Playing for 90
Fansided

Is FIFA any better off with Gianni Infantino as president than it was with Sepp Blatter?

By Karl Harrington

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - JULY 20: A comedian attacked FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter with money during a press conference at the Extraordinary FIFA Executive Committee Meeting at the FIFA headquarters on July 20, 2015 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Philipp Schmidli/Getty Images)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - JULY 20: A comedian attacked FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter with money during a press conference at the Extraordinary FIFA Executive Committee Meeting at the FIFA headquarters on July 20, 2015 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Philipp Schmidli/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next

Sepp Blatter – how bad was the ex-FIFA president?

With his angled eyebrows and short, somewhat corpulent physique, Sepp Blatter looks like a classic Disney villain. However, up until 2015 the Swiss had somehow kept his nose clean in the midst of the maelstrom of accusations.

It took the FBI and Swiss authorities sand brushing through his history at FIFA, to bring forward accusations of a ‘disloyal payment’ and ‘criminal mismanagement.’

The former regards a 2 million CHF payment made to Michel Platini. The pair share identical accounts of why the transaction was made – money owed to Platini’s for work done for FIFA from ’99 to ’02- but it nevertheless resulted in lengthy and career tarnishing suspensions for them both.

The latter concerns a TV rights agreement which Blatter signed with Warner and CONCACAF that was said to be acting against the interests of FIFA.  The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been brought against Blatter as of yet.

Blatter has always been adamant of complete innocence and that American authorities simply acted out spite for not being awarded the 2022 World Cup hosting rights. He also claims to have been oblivious to the endemic corruption fostered by the organization.

There may be a vestige of truth to that. The majority of backhanders took place away from Zürich at confederations and member associations where corruption was deep-rooted and FIFA had no direct control. However, there is also empirical proof of Blatter not just knowing about financial misdemeanours, but doing everything in his power to cover them up.

Home/Editorials