FA Boss Greg Dyke has this morning called for the resignation of FIFA president Sepp Blatter. This follows on from our story yesterday of 6 FIFA officials being arrested on bribery charges totaling over $100m dollars since 1990.
Since then the number of indicted officials has risen to 18, with FIFA themselves provisionally suspending 11 of those.
The news comes at an awful time for current president Sepp Blatter in the wake of his latest re-election campaign. But Dyke is of the opinion that Blatter should stand down before the election scheduled for Friday.
“Blatter has put out a statement saying now is the time to start rebuilding the trust in FIFA. There is no way of rebilding trust in FIFA while Sepp Blatter is still there.
“Sepp Blatter has to go. He either has to go through a resignation, or he has to be out-voted or we have to find a third way.
“I think the time has come where the damage this has done to FIFA is so great that it can’t be rebuilt while Blatter is still there so UEFA has got to try and force him out.
The statement in question refers to the following quote when Blatter finally spoke out yesterday;
“This is a difficult time for football, the fans and for FIFA as an organisation. We understand the disappointment that many have expressed and I know the events of today will impact the way in which many people view us.
“As unfortunate as these events are, it should be clear that we welcome the actions and the investigations by the US and Swiss authorities and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken to root out any wrongdoing in football.”
It wasn’t until US Attorney General Loretta Lynch highlighted the details of the investigation that we really got a taste of what really goes on at the organisation in charge of our game;
“The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and in the US.
“It spans at least 2 generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.”
The indictments cover a number of key factors, with the most shocking including disgraced former vice president Jack Warner channeling a $10m dollar bribe through FIFA’s own account for votes in favour of South Africa, the eventual hosts of the 2010 World Cup. A warrant for Warner’s arrest was served yesterday, he was released on bail totaling $2.5m. His two sons have also pleaded guilty to accusations of bribery.
Following this discovery, the Swiss attorney general is now looking into criminal proceedings over awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Qatar and Russia respectively.
There are also allegations of corruption and bribery during the 2011 presidency election campaign.
Many are calling for this Friday’s presidential election to be postponed, but no indication that this will happen has been suggested by FIFA.
Writers view: Sepp Blatter can try and hide from this all he wants. He may not have been one of the officials to be investigated or indicted, but the simple fact is that all of this happened under his watch.
I simply refuse to believe that Blatter would have been clueless to the fact that 2 of his own vice-presidents were involved in such scandals.
I completely agree with Greg Dyke, there is no way that FIFA can be taken seriously as an organisation until this man is gone. He will continue to favour voters and worm his way out of this controversy, he is a dictator.
We need a new leader and a new direction, and to once again trust those that run our game.