Blatter sidelined in his own museum
ONLY beleaguered FIFA, who need to pass a wholesale reform package tomorrow to remain functioning as football’s world governing body, could be opening a £100million museum in Zurich this weekend.
The initiative, costing £80m to lease and refurbish the building and another £20m for the contents, was former president Sepp Blatter’s final vanity project following his £20m-funded film about FIFA, United Passions, one of the biggest flops in cinema history.
Yet the museum, where the FIFA executive dined last night and which is being officially opened by the new president on Sunday, is no homage to Blatter. Instead it is an impressive modern museum concentrating on the history of the World Cup, with plenty of family-friendly interactive features.
Blatter is pictured only on a wall charting the timelines of all FIFA presidents, although his stated tenure from 1998-2016 is incorrect as he was banned from all football in December last year. Also, he is fleetingly shown in a film showcasing World Cup finals. But that exposure is minimal compared to what might have been expected in a Blatter-influenced project.
Museum organisers say their ethos is to put football rather than politics to the fore. And there is no mention anywhere of the corruption crisis that has taken FIFA to the brink. The last reference to the Blatter years is from 2014.
SIMON GREENBERG, chief of staff of England 2018’s doomed campaign, was back yesterday in the Baur au Lac, the Zurich hotel where the England bid team were promised a number of votes that never materialised. Greenberg has helped set up Murdoch-owned Dow Jones Sport Intelligence. They specialise in sporting due diligence and are pitching for FIFA business after the reforms. THOSE who fear the FIFA election will change none of the old Zurich culture would have had their views reinforced by UEFA candidate Gianni Infantino having drinks in the Baur au Lac with Wolfgang Niersbach ( right). The latter resigned from the German Football Federation in the fall-out from allegations that they bought the 2006 World Cup but scandalously still sits on the executives of both UEFA and FIFA. Infantino said: ‘He has quit the German federation but he has been elected democratically in FIFA and UEFA so he is a member in his own right.’
THE infighting around the election got increasingly personal yesterday, with claims that stand-in president Issa Hayatou referred to presidential candidate Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein as a dog. The slur was reported by French newspaper
L’Equipe and the Times of India, who quoted Hayatou as saying after an African confederation meeting this month: ‘Who is this Prince Ali? If he wants to bark, it’s his problem.’ The Ali camp have claimed the widespread interpretation in the Arab world was that their man had been called a ‘dog’ by FIFA’s current leading figure. Prince Ali was also upset that the FA, who are supporting Gianni Infantino, have not given him a ‘fair enough’ hearing as he was not granted the opportunity to address the FA board — instead speaking only to FA chairman Greg Dyke.