FIFA president Sepp Blatter is the victim of a conspiracy from behind the scenes, daughter Corinne Blatter told the BBC amid the corruption crisis gripping world football. Her comments come as key FIFA officials face a string of bribery charges. Blatter, who has been re-elected as Fifa president, has not been implicated but faces calls to stand down.
Good news for South America: FIFA will not make any changes to the allocation of World Cup slots among the six continents for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments in Russia and Qatar, president Sepp Blatter said during the first meeting of the new Executive Committee in Zurich.
Richard Weber, the United States Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) leader of criminal investigations, told The New York Times he was fairly confident that there would be another round of indictments, following on the 14 FIFA officials accused of racketeering and accepting $150 million in bribes to rig marketing contracts and the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup.
Sepp Blatter was re-elected president of FIFA for a fifth term on Friday after the only other candidate conceded defeat after a first round of voting in an election overshadowed by allegations of corruption in world soccer. Blatter's victory came despite demands that he quit in the face of a major bribery scandal being investigated by US, Swiss and other law enforcement agencies.
Russian president Vladimir Putin waded into the FIFA scandal by accusing the United States of interfering in FIFA affairs after the US Justice Department ordered Swiss police to arrest seven senior FIFA officials on Wednesday. They were among nine current and former FIFA officials indicted.
Despite growing pressure to resign having presided over a series of corruption scandals, Sepp Blatter tells Congress he is still the man to rebuild trust in FIFA’s battered reputation
The Asian Football Confederation says it still supports Sepp Blatter's bid for another term as FIFA president, and opposes any move to delay Friday's scheduled elections in the wake of a string of corruption arrests of some of the federation's top officials.
European football's leaders are to meet on Thursday in a bid to postpone FIFA's presidential election. UEFA said Friday's vote should not go ahead after bribery and racketeering charges were laid against senior officials in football's governing body. “These events show, once again, that corruption is deeply rooted in FIFA's culture,” UEFA said.
FIFA chief Joseph Blatter in a brief statement said on Wednesday afternoon that we welcome the actions and the investigations by the US and Swiss authorities and further on emphasized that such misconduct has no place in football and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game•
FIFA has ruled out a re-vote on awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar as Swiss authorities prepare to question ten executive committee members about the corruption-tainted bidding process.