By Andrew Warshaw
June 8 – The man now very much in charge at FIFA in terms of steering a path towards lasting reform and co-ordinating the extraordinary congress that will find a successor to Sepp Blatter has made it clear that the organisation could go as far as stripping Russia and Qatar of World Cup host status if conclusive new proof of corruption emerges over the bid process.
Until now, FIFA and both countries have always insisted that 2018 and 2022 will not be altered come what may. But Domenico Scala, the independent chairman of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee, told the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung that nothing is off limits.
“If evidence should emerge that the awards to Qatar and Russia only came about thanks to bought votes, then the awards could be invalidated,” said Scala who has made similar comments before but whose latest remarks co-incide with the ongoing Swiss investigation and confirmation that the FBI has now widened its separate probe to include both World Cups even though the process for the 2018 and 2022 were not subject to any charges announced by US authorities. “Until today, the respective evidence has not been provided,” added Scala.
Russia beat England and combined bids from Spain/Portugal and Holland/Belgium, while Qatar were unexpected 2022 winners ahead of the likes of the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia.
As the gravest scandal to strike at the heart of FIFA intensifies, German football boss Wolfgang Niersbach, newly elected to UEFA’s executive committee, thinks Blatter should step down sooner rather than later instead of continuing until a successor is elected sometime between December and March.
“For me it’s incredible the way it happened. You invite the whole world to a congress, you get re-elected and then four days later you resign, for whatever reason. But it’s not an immediate resignation, only an announcement,” Niersbach told German public broadcaster ZDF.
Niersbach says under FIFA’s statutes, Blatter could have chosen to resign with immediate effect, in which case Senior Vice President Issa Hayatou of Cameroon would take over until an extraordinary congress is held to elect a permanent replacement.
While acknowledging that under FIFA rules a four-month lead time is needed to set up the said congress, Niersbach stressed that “everything needs to go much faster.”
Asked whether UEFA needed this time to consider putting up its own candidate, he replied: “Yes, that must be the goal” – with UEFA president Michel Platini the natural contender though there must be questionmarks over whether he could pick up enough votes from outside Europe.
“In retrospect, when one reflects on all that has gone on… it would have been the ideal solution for Blatter, as promised, to have stepped down after the 2014 World Cup to make way for his protégé, Michel Platini.”
Lennart Johansson, who Blatter beat for the FIFA presidency amid considerable bitterness in 1998, also thinks his one-time adversary should also go now – and says Blatter must have known about the infamous $10 million payment made to disgraced former vice-president Jack Warner.
The money was sent in 2008 from FIFA to an account controlled by Warner following a request to the FIFA secretary general, Jéröme Valcke, from the South African Football Association. Warner’s former deputy Chuck Blazer has testified in court that the cash was a bribe for their votes for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup. Warner denies that.
“I think that he must go immediately,” Johansson said. “I think the investigation has told him they will find out exactly what was done and by whom. The general secretary was sending away millions of dollars to America (to a CONCACAF account controlled by Warner) and then Blatter claims that he didn’t know. He knows everything that’s going on so don’t believe that.
“The cash out [was] so much money and he who keeps everything under such tight control should know about it, this is nonsense. I fought him for 20 years and then he bluffed me in ’98 and everyone knows how.”
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