BY TOMORROW, except some successful last-minute effort by the British Football Association to postpone the elections, Sepp Blatter would have been re-elected unopposed to a fourth term as president of football’s world governing body FIFA.
The only challenger, Mohamed bin Hammam, withdrew his candidacy just hours before being provisionally suspended from all soccer activities by FIFA’s ethics committee, together with Jack Warner, the embattled CONCACAF president.
On Sunday, Mr Blatter was exonerated as the ethics panel said there was sufficient evidence to further investigate allegations that bin Hammam and Warner, offered US$40 000 bribes to delegates at a Caribbean Football?Union (CFU) meeting on May 10 and 11 in Trinidad and Tobago.
The payments were allegedly made to secure votes for Mr bin Hammam, a Qatari who heads Asia’s Football Confederation, in his campaign to unseat Mr Blatter.
The evidence was compiled by American executive committee member Chuck Blazer.
FIFA said Mr bin Hammam and Mr Warner, a FIFA vice-president from Trinidad, will now face a full FIFA inquiry. If both are found guilty of the charge of bribery, they could be expelled from FIFA and banned for life from all soccer activity.
The way now seems clear for Mr Blatter to be re-elected at today’s annual congress despite his federation becoming mired in a credibility crisis. He has showed again that he has a remarkable gift for self-preservation.
Mr Blatter joined FIFA in 1975 and said he fell in love with Africa following a visit to Ethiopia in 1976. Last year, he finally fulfilled his long-held dream of taking the World Cup to that continent when it was successfully staged in South Africa.
He became general secretary in 1981 and, after 17 years serving under Joao Havelange, replaced the Brazilian as president in 1998. In 2001, FIFA faced major potential financial problems after the collapse of its marketing partner.
Mr Blatter faced further problems in 2002 when FIFA’s then secretary general Michel Zen-Ruffinen also claimed the 1998 election victory was based on bribery and corruption.
The FIFA boss threatened legal action but never followed up the threat, and when he beat Issa Hayatou, of Cameroon, by 139 votes to 56 in that year’s election, Mr Zen-Ruffinen was soon out of a job.
Mr Blatter has not had competition since then. He is a master survivor.
The regional body CONCACAF, headed by Mr Warner, has also been under scrutiny for several years. There have been rumours of “gift for favours” and on many occasions there were allegations of corruption by contributors to THE?NATION, but skated too close to the libel laws and could not be published.
FIFA has come full circle. Given the integrity legislation in Trinidad and Tobago, pressure may build on Mr Warner to resign his seat on the FIFA executive.
So too, should our own Minister of Education Ronald Jones as president of the Barbados Football Association to avoid being tainted.
