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.
Justin Mahon
Guest
... and yet the game has globalised at an ever increasing rate. Even the former UK 'dominions' (the last 5 nations to hold out at the professional level) are falling under her spell. What a game. Nothing like it.
Evan Askew
Guest
Lazza, yes and no. Yes it is reasonable because they are both individual countries. Think of it like this, in our elections is it fair that I have one vote while Gina Reinhardt has five votes. But at the same time I get what you are saying in that a country like Brazil has contirubted more to football than say Barbados. Perhaps like in the un each country should have one vote but there is some sort of security council with a big country from each confederation that is permanent or rotating between the 3 biggest nations of each confederation. That way countries like Brazil, Argentina, US,England, Germany France and Spain could get their views across.
Evan Askew
Guest
That is true regarding Brazillian football. My belief in Maradonna as a better player than Pele is not based on the fact that one played in domestic football in Brazil and the other in Spain and Italy. It is on what they have achieved in the world cup and the fact that Maradonna was the only great player in his team that won the world cup while Pele had the help of some pretty awesome players as teammates in 1958 and 1970.. Brazillian and Argentine football, not to mention the top clubs around other South American countries were probably as good as anything in Europe up until the 80s, the fact that until that time South American teams often won the intercontinental championship more than their European counterparts bears this out. Argentina in 78 was the last team to win a world cup where all the players barring Kempes were domestically based. I think the Argentine and Brazillian teams in 86 and 94 were half and half but after that they were based almost entirely in Europe.
Danny
Guest
LOL, the yanks have no say whatsoever. They have just been hired by the European billionaires to carry out a job to disguise and distract...
Danny
Guest
LOL, the FIFA is greedy. They offer their delegates drinking water in plastic bottles, not glass bottles
Danny
Guest
Europe founded FIFA and controls FIFA... They will never pull out.
Danny
Guest
Voting is on now LIVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX-gu9pdKyg&feature=player_embedded
Realfootball
Guest
Ironically one of the sideffects of this business is to highlight what tiny, tiny games are AFL, rugby and rugby league. Real football is in a different universe. And with that scale, that sheer financial and demographic reach comes problems that the parochial codes would dearly love to have. But don't worry, you won't. Ever.
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
And yet it's still the most popular game in the world by so far!!!!
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Would have been great if one of the roar experts had written a little something about 29th May 1985. The Heysel tragedy occurred 30 years ago. #heysel
Cugel
Roar Rookie
Soccer the laughingstock of world sport? That ship sailed long ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRlNFGIQ41c
AZ_RBB
Guest
Haven't followed the conversation but my two cents.... Fifa has a fairly minimal impact on football on a week to week basis. It's really just the World Cup where they have a big influence. I know that's a pretty big deal but much smaller than the 4yrs of club and international football that takes place almost daily around the world in between World Cups. It's a shame that the international governing body is run poorly but it has nothing to compare to. The closest thing is the United Nations and that's an even bigger joke. IOC is pretty rubbish as well. I just can't see Prince Ali waving some magic wand and solving all the problems. It really isn't that simple.
SM
Guest
I agree that Maradona is the superior footballer, but i think you need to have a lot more respect for the quality of Brazilan football in that era. It is acknowledged by football historians that the Brazilan championship was arguably the strongest in the world back then and only really fell away when the big money started getting into the European game. At Pele's peak, very few players left their own country let alone their continent. It is also the case that Pele himself was forbidden by the Brazilan military government of the time to ply his trade in Europe as he was considered a national treasure. There was interest form a number of Italian clubs I believe, but there was never a chance of him going.
Neil
Guest
I enjoyed that.
Dean
Guest
They use the corrupt money they receive to prop up the leagues they represent. I bet Warner was so giving that he donated as much as 10% of his bribes into the T&T FA, then who could sack him? Plus, if they're not receiving the money from FIFA to vote for Blatter, if the challenger doesn't match the promise to the FA, then they'll go bankrupt.
Midfielder
Guest
Clever Real ...
Dean
Guest
Not in the same league as most African nations who vote for Blatter. Not even close. Is the vote secret? I'd love to plot the index of corruption against who they voted for.
Dean
Guest
Well the US and EU supported the coup that ousted an undoubtedly democratic government to install a puppet regime. The Russians came after that.
Steve
Guest
No it's gerrymandering. It'd be like saying there's 150 house of representative seats in Australia, and 149 of those are within North Shore of Sydney. It's absurd!
spruce moose
Guest
Hi Dean I don't think at this extremely late stage the 2018 world cup could be anywhere but Russia. So Putin voting for Blatter is really just to reinforce corruption. Prince Ali wouldn't strip Russia of the cup now. The 2022 world cup on the other hand....