Europe’s soccer governing body UEFA called upon FIFA to delay its presidential election and threatened to boycott this week’s Congress as African, Asian and South American soccer organizations continue to back incumbent Joseph “Sepp” Blatter.
Two current FIFA vice presidents were among 14 people indicted Wednesday by U.S. prosecutors investigating what they called “rampant” corruption in the sport that began in 1991. The 79-year-old president wasn’t charged as Swiss authorities searched the organization’s headquarters in Zurich.
“These events show, once again, that corruption is deeply rooted in FIFA’s
culture,” UEFA said in an e-mailed statement. “The upcoming FIFA Congress risks to turn into a farce and therefore the European associations will have to consider carefully if they should even attend this Congress and caution a system, which, if it is not stopped, will ultimately kill football.”
UEFA member associations will meet tomorrow and decide on further steps. A vote could be held within six months if the one scheduled for Friday is postponed.
FIFA said earlier today that it’s cooperating with the investigations and the election will take place as planned. Blatter’s sole opponent, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, also called for a change in leadership.
“We cannot continue with the crisis in FIFA, a crisis that has been ongoing and is not just relevant to the events of today,” the prince said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday. “FIFA needs leadership that governs, guides and protects our national associations. Leadership that accepts responsibility for its actions and does not pass blame. Leadership that restores confidence in the hundreds of millions of football fans around the world.”
The English Football Association, which backed Prince Ali’s nomination along with the U.S., Belarus, Malta and Georgia, said it will vote for him.
“However, there must be a question mark over whether the election should take place in these circumstances,” FA Chairman Greg Dyke said on its website.
Prince Ali hasn’t been forceful enough in campaigning to unseat Blatter in an election, said Borja Garcia, a lecturer in sports management and policy at Loughborough University in England.
“He hasn’t been very radical about reform” before today’s statement, Garcia said. Prince Ali may get a few more votes because of the U.S. case but it’s “pretty unlikely” he will win the election.
Countries in Asia and Africa continue to support Blatter, who is seeking a fifth term as president. He ran unopposed in 2011 after the only other candidate, Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar, withdrew following accusations of trying to bribe voters.
The FA also called for that vote to be delayed, a move that was rejected as
officials from Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cyprus, Fiji, Benin and Argentina voiced their dissatisfaction.
“The current president has been a good friend to the continent and he’s the right person to lead the federation forward,” South African Football Association spokesman Dominic Chimhavi said in a phone interview. “We haven’t been given enough information to know what has really transpired. We will be sticking to the CAF resolution” to vote for Blatter.
Other ruling bodies in Asia and South America also promised support for the incumbent.
“These next four years, he’s going to finish and put the crown on all the work he’s done before,” said Manuel Burga, president of the Peruvian Football Federation from 2002 until 2014.
Source: Bloomberg
