Fifa president Sepp Blatter to football world: 'Crisis? What is a crisis?'
Blatter insists only 'Fifa family' can stop him winning re-election on day of high drama in the wake of corruption allegations
Fifa's president, Sepp Blatter, has faced down a barrage of criticism over corruption within football's governing body and vowed that only "the Fifa family" could prevent him being re-elected unopposed on Wednesday .
After a day of high drama in which Qatar threatened legal action against Fifa's secretary general, Jrme Valcke, for implying it had bought the right to host the 2022 World Cup, Blatter defiantly insisted there was nothing for Fifa to investigate.
"Crisis? What is a crisis?" asked Blatter, the day after a presidential election candidate and a Fifa vice-president became the third and fourth of Fifa's 24 most senior politicians to have been suspended from football over corruption allegations in the past six months.
Blatter's stubbornness has been reinforced by the knowledge that he will be elected unopposed for another term on Wednesday. The same congress of national federations will now be his judge, he claimed. "They will decide if I am a valid or a non-valid candidate, or if I am a valid or non-valid president."
There were some references to reforms Blatter intends to take up. One is for Fifa's ethics committee to be strengthened. Blatter, alone on the press conference podium at Fifa headquarters, spoke of "all the devils who are in this game". It is not a criticism that is likely to shake the support of his member organisations. But the lack of support among football fans for his 13-year stewardship of the world game was clear as "Blatter out" became the second most popular international trend on Twitter .
Fans were responding to a day of extraordinary revelations at Fifa's $100m (61m) Zurich headquarters. An email leaked by the suspended Fifa vice-president, Jack Warner, had earlier apparently raised the most damaging allegations of corruption surrounding Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid.
In it, Valcke, Blatter's cl! osest ai de as secretary general of Fifa, stated that Qatar had "bought the World Cup". Qatar quickly denied the allegations. Hours later, Valcke issued his own clarification. "When I refer to the 2022 World Cup in that email, what I wanted to say is that the winning bid used their financial strength to lobby for support," he said. "I have at no time made, or was intending to make, any reference to any purchase of votes or similar unethical behaviour."
Blatter, who as president has a statutory responsibility for the line management of Fifa's secretary general, refused to express any view about Valcke's explanation. "I don't answer that question and I ask for your understanding," he said. "You have received the Fifa general secretary statement. I am the president; I am only here to talk about the president."
Fifa's reputation suffered a further blow with the emergence of photographic evidence of neat bundles of cash allegedly paid to the Bahamas Football Association by the Qatari former Fifa presidential candidate and president of the Asian Football Confederation, Mohamed Bin Hammam, in an effort to garner support for his election campaign. In an almost satirical touch, the money had been delivered in a brown envelope.
Chuck Blazer, the American Fifa official who is the chief accuser of the two senior figures to have been suspended this week, stated when asked if he thought Fifa was corrupt: "I think individuals are."
Like Warner, however, Bin Hammam continues to attack the process that has led to his "temporary exclusion" from all football activity. Bin Hammam has stated his intention to appeal against the decision by the Fifa-appointed ethics committee to force him out of football while investigators carry out their own inquiries into the alleged activities of Warner and Bin Hammam.
Blatter's refusal to brook any criticism of his oversight of Fifa was put in relief by the public comments of Coca-Cola, a major sponsor. "The current allegations being raised are distressing and bad for! the spo rt," said Coca-Cola, adding its weight to the concerns raised by Adidas last week. "We have every expectation that Fifa will resolve this situation in an expedient and thorough manner."
Though those words may seem lightweight, they are a significant departure from the usual steadfast support Fifa sponsors demonstrate for the organisation. Usually, they separate their partnership with the World Cup from any controversy at Fifa House.
Now, in a potentially strong coalition of interest forming against Fifa, world governments are joining the sponsors. In addition to the UK parliamentary inquiry into football governance, the Australian government whose 2022 World Cup bid failed against Qatar's has also begun to express grave concerns. Newspapers in the Middle East even likened the situation in Fifa to the Arab spring that has unseated a number of governments in the region.
"If governments try to intervene in our organisation then something is wrong," Blatter conceded. Then he added: "I think Fifa is strong enough to deal with the problems inside Fifa. I am sure that the day after tomorrow at the congress we will prove we can solve the problems if there are any inside the congress."
Blatter made one apparently extraordinary admission. Under his presidency the annual revenues of football's world governing body have grown to $1.3bn as it feasts on sponsors' and broadcasters' appetite for the World Cup. That presidency began in 1998, making his remark revelatory. "I have to say we had no problems until 1998; this was a modest Fifa now we are a comfortable Fifa," he said.
Although ultimately he angrily left the press conference amid journalists' heckles, nothing appears set to discomfit Blatter.
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