CONTROVERSIES UNDER BLATTER

1998:

Blatter has been dodging scandals almost from the moment he was elected in 1998 — and his campaign that year was accused of bribing African delegates to secure victory.

2002:

Blatter’s chief deputy, general secretary Michel ZenRuffinen, submitted a dossier to the Swiss authorities on behalf of other Executive Committee members that accused Blatter of financial mismanagement, conflicts of interest and abuse of power. Zen-Ruffinen lost the power struggle and left FIFA.

2006:

The FIFA vice president Jack Warner was accused of a massive fraud involving the resale of tickets of the World Cup in Germany through a travel company controlled by his family. FIFA, under Blatter, cleared Warner, who reportedly made a $1 million profit, and merely expressed “disapproval” at his conduct.

2010:

Accusations of bribery, financial mismanagement and World Cup bid-rigging became alarmingly commonplace by Blatter’s third term. The bidding process to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups brought out even more. The decision to award two World Cups at once was flawed from the start, since it would invite vote-trading and other inducements, and that is exactly what happened.

2011:

Qatar’s Mohammed bin Hammam went up against Blatter in the bid for FIFA presidency. However, shortly before the vote, the Qatari official was confronted with concrete corruption allegations from the Caribbean camp. While Blatter had promised CONCACAF an official FIFA donation worth $1 million, Bin Hammam attempted to give each association $40,000. But his cover was blown when other officials, who had already been convicted of corruption, discredited him.