On eve of election, FIFA president Blatter denounces calls to resign
ZURICH — As defiant as ever, Sepp Blatter resisted calls to resign as FIFA president Thursday and deflected blame for the bribery and corruption scandal engulfing soccer’s world governing body.
“We, or I, cannot monitor everyone all of the time,” Blatter said in his first remarks on the crisis that has tainted his leadership on the eve of his bid for a fifth term as president.
Blatter, 79, insisted he could restore trust in world soccer after a pair of corruption investigations brought “shame and humiliation” on his organization and the world’s most popular sport.
“We cannot allow the reputation of football and FIFA to be dragged through the mud any longer,” he said. “It has to stop here and now.”
Despite a tide of criticism and pressure on him to leave, Blatter is moving ahead with a presidential election Friday that is likely to bring him another four years in office as one of the most powerful men in sports.
“The events of yesterday have cast a long shadow over football,” he said in a speech to open FIFA’s two-day congress. “There can be no place for corruption of any kind.”
Blatter refused to back down after European soccer body UEFA demanded earlier Thursday that he quit following the latest — and most serious allegations — to discredit FIFA during his 17 years in office.
“Enough is enough,” UEFA president Michel Platini said. “People no longer want him anymore and I don’t want him anymore either.”
Platini met privately with Blatter and asked him to go.
“I am asking you to leave FIFA, to step down because you are giving FIFA a terrible image,” Platini said he told Blatter. “In terms of our image, it is not good at all and I am the first one to be disgusted by this.”
Blatter, who is expected to win Friday’s election against Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, is coming under increasing scrutiny amid U.S. and Swiss federal investigations into high-level corruption tearing at FIFA.
A U.S. Justice Department investigation accused 14 international soccer officials or sports marketing executives of bribery, racketeering, fraud and money-laundering over two decades in connection with marketing rights worth hundreds of millions of dollars awarded for tournaments in North and South America. Seven officials — including two FIFA vice presidents and members of its finance committee — remained in custody in Zurich on Thursday. Blatter was not implicated in the indictment.
In addition, Swiss officials are investigating the FIFA votes that sent the World Cup tournament to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. Both decisions were marred by allegations of wrongdoing.
Blatter said the crisis could mark a “turning point” for FIFA to clean itself up.
“We will cooperate with all authorities to make sure anyone involved in wrongdoing, from top to bottom, is discovered and punished,” he said.