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If the scheduled FIFA presidential election goes ahead tonight in Zurich, and Sepp Blatter is re-elected for a fifth term, football will be the laughing stock of international sport.
Faced with 14 arrests of top FIFA officials, charged by FBI and Swiss prosecutors with corruption, accepting bribes, money laundering, and racketeering, football’s governing body has only one course of action – shelve the election until a later date.
Arguably the most important question asked from the floor of Wednesday’s media conference in New York was, “No charges have been laid on Sepp Blatter, does that mean you have given him a clean bill of health, or are there on-going investigations against Blatter?”
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who hosted the conference, was very quick to say “I’m not going to comment on the status of any individual.”
Hardly a ringing endorsement of Blatter’s future.
The 79-year-old Blatter has been in the big chair since June 1998, and was re-elected in 2002, 2007, and 2011. He is again standing, with his only challenger the 39-year-old Prince Ali of Jordan, FIFA’s vice-president from the Asian region.
The nature of the arrests has given some highly respected men in the sport some long-overdue bottle to speak out against Blatter.
Greg Dyke, chairman of the England Football Association, has demanded Blatter resign immediately.
“There’s no way any trust can be rebuilt while Blatter is president,” was his parting shot.
Gary Lineker was an England football legend on the pitch and now, at 54, he’s just as famous as the Match of the Day host on television.
“FIFA is an embarrassment to our wonderful sport, and its become nauseating with all the corruption that is starting to surface,” Lineker said.
Another football legend Diego Maradona – no angel himself – has said FIFA has been corrupt for years. “But every time I said it I was called a crazy person,” he said.
“Now who is crazy?”
Interestingly, the greatest footballer of them all – Pele – has been deafening with his silence.
But Blatter hasn’t done himself any favours by staying behind closed doors, only issuing a written statement.
“Let me be clear: such misconduct has no place in football and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game…
“We will continue to work with the relevant authorities and we will work vigorously within FIFA in order to root out any misconduct, to regain your trust and ensure that football worldwide is free from wrongdoing.”
The last gasp from a dead man walking?
The next two days may well decide.