Oct 9, 2015
Blatter's profile is gone, but his legacy remains
No prizes for guessing whose face will adorn the most sought after Halloween mask later this month. However if you checked FIFA's website for their official bio the morning after that day before, their currently suspended President appears to have vanished without a trace into thin air. TSN soccer analyst Noel Butler breaks down the latest on Sepp Blatter's situation.
By Noel Butler
No prizes for guessing whose face will adorn the most sought after Halloween mask later this month. However if you checked FIFA's website for their official bio the morning after that day before, their currently suspended President appears to have vanished without a trace into thin air. A benefit I guess of having been the son of a chemical factory worker from the tiny Swiss canton of Visp.
The beginning of the end for the House of Blatter was timed to perfection by Swiss authorities when in late May all those at the top of the FBI's FIFA hit list were gathered in Zurich ahead of the 65th Annual Congress, and one which was to see Blatter elected for a fourth term. Seven FIFA officials were unceremoniously taken into Swiss custody.
Operating and functioning in large part from a base of secrecy and subterfuge which would have shamed into submission the KGB and CIA at the height of the Cold War ... ultimately things will and do unravel.
To best illustrate though how structural the culture of corruption is at FIFA, Blatter's replacement as acting president, Issa Hayatou, was reprimanded by the IOC, of which he is a member, in 2011 relating to a bribery case involving World Cup TV rights.
FIFA announcing 90-day suspensions to Blatter and his counterpart at UEFA, Michel Platini and also to FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke drew strong criticism from IOC President Thomas Bach. Bach, in the strongest possible terms, urged football's world governing body to accelerate reform and to conduct an external search for its new president.
That sage advice coming from an organization itself which no one needs reminding of its previous structural corruption scandals, fell on the deafest of ears. Unbowed and apparently unblemished late Thursday, Platini let it be known he would fight all allegations against him and that his bid to succeed was as far as he was concerned still on track.
This coming from someone who only a fortnight ago was described by the Swiss Attorney General who heads up the FIFA corruption investigations as an individual who they see sits in the highly uncomfortable position as being between a witness and an accused person.
Platini is reportedly still to provide the evidence which would corroborate his assertion that a payment in spring 2011 from FIFA of 2 million Swiss Francs [$2.5m CDN] almost a decade late was indeed for consultancy work Platini carried out for the governing body.
Nice work if you can get. Even better I imagine if your cash flow position allows you to defer payment without interest for the exact period of time that culminated rather coincidentally when Blatter was re-elected FIFA president in 2011. An election where it had been expected Platini would run against him.
As expected Blatter and Platini have let it be known of their intentions to appeal their provisional suspensions. What remains to be seen is what FIFA intends to do. The current investigation by Swiss authorities involving them both will likely determine that outcome.
As for the FBI investigations, earlier Friday Swiss authorities agreed to the extradition request to the U.S. of a second suspect who was arrested during that early morning raid at the Zurich hotel back in late May. Costas Takkas, a UK citizen and Secretary General of the Bermudan soccer association, will join the CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb in American custody.
Like ex-CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer who has become an FBI informant as part of a plea agreement, it is expected both Webb and now Takkas will cooperate with U.S. law enforcement authorities.
For his part Sepp Blatter has always staunchly maintained his innocence of any wrongdoing and who in an interview with the BBC in late August denied there was any corruption in football.
FIFA will have an emergency meeting of its executive committee October 20 in Zurich where it is likely the planned election for a new President scheduled for next February will be delayed. It's not so much a crisis that now besieges the so termed 'Guardians of Football' as much as it is paralysis setting in.
Forgotten in the most recent events surrounding Blatter and Platini, the very same Swiss authorities at the centre of the scandals which plague FIFA also opened up investigations into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup Finals shortly after those arrests in late May.
Hardly surprising the spokesperson for Kofi Annan, the ex UN Secretary-General, has let it be known that the man who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 has no intentions of taking up any position at FIFA.
You can remove reference to one of the most powerful and wealthy entities on the planet from Sepp Blatter's Twitter account all you want. His ghost though will undoubtedly haunt the corridors of FIFA forever more.
Noel Butler can be contacted at: