By Andrew Warshaw
May 28 – Sepp Blatter suffered the humiliation of pulling out of the Champions League final today as pressure grew on FIFA to call off next week’s Presidential election because of the escalating bribery scandal.
Blatter had been due to attend a special reception at Wembley given by UEFA President Michel Platini and then watch Barcelona play Manchester United but had to send his apologies in order to prepare his case after becoming embroiled in the worst crisis in FIFA’s 107-year history.
Blatter has been mandated to appear before FIFA’s Ethics Committee tomorrow along with his rival for the Presidency Mohamed Bin Hammam and veteran FIFA vice-president Jack Warner following stunning allegations of illicit payments made to Caribbean federations.
The outcome of the Ethics Committee hearing will be announced at an eagerly awaited press conference tomorrow evening with potentially wide-ranging consequences for the parties involved as well as the entire future of FIFA.
As FIFA tottered closer to the brink of disaster, Wednesday’s (June 1) election seems certain to be called off if Blatter, seeking a fourth and final term of office, is suspended by the Ethics Committee having been added to the probe at the request of Bin Hammam.
Sources have told insideworldfootball that any suggestion Blatter had prior knowledge of the the bribes-for-votes scandal, which allegedly took place May 10-11 in Warner’s native Trinidad, is wide of the mark, however.
“How can you know about a crime before it happens,” said one high-ranking insider.
Bin Hammam insists the debacle is nothing more than a deliberate ploy to discredit him but the documentation outlining the case against him and Warner, both at the centre of thousands of dollars allegedly being offered for “development projects”, is understood to be compelling.
The election is due to be held on the second day of FIFA’s annual two-day congress in Zurich.
It is understood the ballot, in which Blatter is a strong favourite, can only be postponed at the request of two-thirds of FIFA’s 208 federations, a prospect already looking distinctly possible.
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