By Andrew Warshaw
February 8 – Banned FIFA president Sepp Blatter will be turned away from the upcoming election to replace him, as well as risk an even more severe sanction, if he dares attend the congress on February 26, Insideworldfootball has learned.
Speculation is rife that Blatter may openly flout his eight-year ban by making a defiant final stand so that he can take centrestage and officially hand over to his successor, potentially throwing the entire proceedings into chaos.
The veteran Swiss, who has run FIFA for 18 years, has been sidelined since being thrown out of football, along with UEFA boss Michel Platini, over the infamous SFr2 million “disloyal payment” made in 2011.
Switzerland’s attorney general has also opened criminal proceedings against Blatter relating both to the Platini payment and allegedly being party to World Cup broadcasting rights being sold for far less than their true value.
Blatter, who is desperate not to go quietly, has long insisted that under FIFA rules, only its 209 member federations who elect a president can formally remove another. He also claims that when he announced at the start of June that he was stepping down – before he was banned – he never specified an exact date.
Blatter’s spokesman Thomas Renggli was recently quoted as saying that “only the congress, according to the statutes, can put Mr. Blatter out of his mandate.”
FIFA’s ethics committee, which imposed the eight-year sanction, takes a different view and has the power to ban Blatter for even longer if he openly defies his punishment in order to make a grand exit.
Blatter and Platini are due to have their appeals heard next week, days before the ballot in Zurich. If they clear their names, both would be free anyway to attend the election though FIFA’s appeals committee is expected to uphold the original judgement, forcing both powerbrokers to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
A source close to the electoral process told Insideworldfootball: “If Blatter is still banned and turns up without accreditation, he will be turned away by security officials. He would not be granted access. Would he really risk such humiliation?”
One added complication is that CAS might subsequently clear Blatter after his successor is already in place. If that happens, could he technically resume his presidency, with the February 26 vote being declared null and void?
Not according to ethics officials who believe his declaration to step down is legally binding regardless of whether his ban is overturned.
“Blatter formally resigned in writing,” said a source with knowledge of ethics procedures. “He is well aware there would be an electoral congress to decide on his successor. If his ban is overturned by the FIFA appeals committee and he turns up, that would not affect the agenda in terms of a new president being elected.
“And if he turns up while still banned, attendance would have to be interpreted as a breach and the investigatory chamber would surely have to look into it.”
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