{"id":433092,"date":"2011-05-31T06:23:47","date_gmt":"2011-05-31T06:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/31\/sepp-blatter-denies-fifa-is-in-crisis\/"},"modified":"2011-05-31T06:23:47","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T06:23:47","slug":"sepp-blatter-denies-fifa-is-in-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/31\/sepp-blatter-denies-fifa-is-in-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Sepp Blatter denies FIFA is in crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You Are Here: Home<\/a> \u00bb Africa\/International<\/a> \u00bb Sepp Blatter denies FIFA is in crisis<\/p>\n

\n

Page last updated at Tuesday, May 31, 2011 6:06 AM \/\/ <\/span><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sepp Blatter has insisted that Fifa is not in crisis, despite the \u201cgreat damage\u201d done to its image by ongoing corruption allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball is not in a crisis, only some difficulties,\u201d said the Fifa president.<\/p>\n

Blatter brushed off suggestions, from the British government among others, that Wednesday\u2019s presidential election \u2013 for which he is the only candidate \u2013 should be suspended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf governments try to intervene then something is wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Fifa is strong enough that we can deal with our problems inside Fifa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blatter, unusually appearing alone at a news conference in Zurich, gave a defiant display despite the storm surrounding the organisation.<\/p>\n

But he ended the news conference in an angry exchange with a German reporter and talked of his time working as a journalist, complaining about a lack of \u201crespect\u201d from some members of the media, warning them: \u201cWe are not in a bazaar; we are in Fifa\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 75-year-old Blatter insisted that a Football Association inquiry by barrister James Dingemans QC looking into ex-FA and bid chairman Lord Triesman\u2019s claims of alleged Fifa impropriety had \u201cfound no elements\u201d which would prompt the world governing to investigate further.<\/p>\n

This despite Dingemans\u2019 report revealing that Fifa executive committee Nicolas Leoz\u2019s aide had asked for the FA Cup to be named after the Paraguayan Exco member, who Triesman claimed in Parliament had demanded a knighthood from England\u2019s 2018 bid.<\/p>\n

Fifa has now published a summary of Dingemans\u2019 report on its website.<\/p>\n

Sports minister Hugh Robertson had expressed the British government\u2019s displeasure at Fifa\u2019s situation last week, calling for its presidential election to be suspended.<\/p>\n

But Blatter argued neither governments nor anyone outside the Fifa membership could have any bearing on the election process, and vowed to carry on unless Wednesday\u2019s congress decided otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf somebody wants to change something in the election or in the congress of Wednesday, these are the members of Fifa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis cannot be done by the executive committee, it cannot be done by any authorities outside of Fifa \u2013 it\u2019s only the congress itself that can do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress will decide if I am a valid or non-valid candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blatter is expected to stand unopposed in an election marred by a torrent of dissent from within and beyond football\u2019s world governing body.<\/p>\n

The only rival candidate to emerge \u2013 Mohamed Bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) \u2013 pulled out having been suspended by Fifa\u2019s own ethics committee over allegations that financial incentives were offered to Caribbean Football Union members.<\/p>\n

Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, himself also suspended on similar grounds, subsequently revealed an e-mail in which another high-ranking Fifa official, secretary general Jerome Valcke, suggested Bin Hammam had \u201cbought\u201d the 2022 World Cup finals for Qatar.<\/p>\n

Valcke has since attempted to clarify those remarks and Qatar 2022 itself issued a statement claiming that Valcke\u2019s words had been \u201ctaken out of context\u201d and its bid had been \u201cdragged through the mud for absolutely no reason\u201d.<\/p>\n

Blatter, however, took pains to avoid dealing with the detail of the various allegations as he faced reporters, saying only: \u201cYou should ask [Bin Hammam] why he pulled out. I was prepared to go into an election process with another candidate and then the congress would have decided. Now the situation has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

These arguments may now begin to damage the organisation\u2019s commercial interests as, earlier on Monday, two of Fifa\u2019s largest sponsors \u2013 Coca-Cola and Adidas \u2013 expressed concern at the widely publicised in-fighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current allegations being raised are distressing and bad for the sport,\u201d said a Coca-Cola spokesperson. \u201cWe have every expectation that Fifa will resolve this situation in an expedient and thorough manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Adidas spokesman said: \u201cThe negative tenor of the public debate around Fifa at the moment is neither good for football nor for Fifa and its partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though insistent that the election process and the Qatar World Cup 2022 bid had not been undermined by recent revelations, Blatter admitted Fifa\u2019s reputation stands at a low ebb.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have tried for years to make Fifa\u2019s reputation the highest possible,\u201d he said. \u201cI regret what has happened in the last few days and weeks, [causing] great damage to the image of Fifa and a lot of disappointment for football fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I entered Fifa 36 years ago, we had no problems. We had no problems until 1998, this was the so-called \u2018very modest\u2019 Fifa. Now we are a \u2018comfortable\u2019 Fifa. I think we are too comfortable and some people like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a game and all the little devils can enter the game. We have to fight against these devils. We have started to fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a very bad situation but, starting on Wednesday, the football family has the opportunity and they have to take it: if they want to restore the credibility of Fifa, and if they want to restore it with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Blatter took to the podium in Zurich, Warner \u2013 one of the four members named by Triesman \u2013 issued his own statement welcoming the FA-commissioned inquiry which exonerated him.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I regained some hope in the power of truth and transparency,\u201d Warner\u2019s statement read.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe report of the independent investigator on the allegations of Lord Triesman has proven once again that whenever the truth is told, people will always be able to have their names exonerated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a Conservative MP who sits on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has called for Wednesday\u2019s Fifa election to be suspended and put forward his own agenda for the reform of the organisation.<\/p>\n

Damian Collins, the MP for Folkestone and Hythe, has worked with the ChangeFifa organisation to set out a five-point plan, inviting \u201cparliamentarians and elected representatives from all the nations of the world to register their support\u201d.<\/p>\n

Collins calls for the immediate suspension of the election and an independent inquiry followed by voting reform, increased transparency regarding decisions taken and Fifa finances, and limits to the number of terms Fifa members may serve as president or on the organisation\u2019s executive committee.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s Zhang Jilong has assumed temporary charge of the AFC in the wake of Bin Hammam\u2019s suspension, while Lisle Austin of Barbados is to stand in for Warner as the president of Concacaf.<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n\n

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