Blatter to quit Fifa in Feb, says daughter
GENEVA: Sepp Blatter, facing a criminal investigation as part of soccer’s corruption scandal, will “definitely not” stay on as president of the Fifa governing body after the election of a new leader in February, his daughter said.
His former public relations adviser Klaus Stoehlker said last week that Blatter had not ruled out trying to stay on as head of world soccer beyond the Feb 26 vote.
But Corinne Blatter-Andenmatten said in an interview published by Swiss newspaper Blick am Sonntag on yesterday there was “no way” he would continue, and at some point he would publish his memoirs.
“I know he wants to quit, and he will do it,” she said.
Major soccer sponsors on Friday issued coordinated calls for the immediate resignation of Blatter, who is being investigated by the Swiss on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation of funds.
Blatter, who denies wrongdoing, said through his US lawyer he would not resign as it was not in Fifa’s best interest.
Blatter-Andenmatten, who has frequently spoken out to defend her father’s reputation, said he had stayed on because the majority of football associations wanted him to, and because “he never runs away when the going gets tough”.
She declined to discuss the possibility of her father ending up in jail: “I don’t even want to think about it. It’s inconceivable to me that he would have to go to prison.”
Blatter was questioned by Swiss federal prosecutors for eight hours on Sept 25, and looked “shocked and disappointed” to be taken by surprise by their arrival, his daughter said. “He just said to me: ‘I think it’s a dream’.”