By Andrew Warshaw
December 6 – Here we go again. Just when the spotlight was on Sepp Blatter’s ultimate failed attempt to clear his name, with precision timing Blatter’s successor Gianni Infantino swept another senior old-era appointment out of office.
Ralf Mutschke (pictured), FIFA’s main crime buster who had been leading the fight against match-fixing – described latterly during Blatter’s tenure as the most pressing and serious problem in the game – has left his post as director of security.
Mutschke, a former Interpol director from Germany, is the latest senior staff member hired during Blatter’s presidency to exit with hardly any notice. Interestingly he leaves 18 months before Russia is to host the World Cup.
Mutschke joined FIFA in 2012 after more than 30 years of service with Germany’s federal police. He replaced Chris Eaton, a bullish Australian recruited from Interpol who ensured that match-fixing was treated as a matter of urgency and placed high on the FIFA agenda after years of neglect by the authorities and who has since moved on to the Qatar-based International Centre for Sport Security.
The low-profile Mutschke had been attempting to assist FIFA member federations lead their own investigations by setting up integrity programmes but now departs after three and half years.
Last year, Interpol cancelled a training programme partnership with FIFA because of the corruption scandal that rocked the world governing body. Mutschke was hugely disappointed with the decision to stop the “unique collaboration” but vowed to continue the fight.
Interpol blamed “current context surrounding FIFA” but Mutschke countered at the time: “For me, this co-operation has nothing to do with the investigations ongoing now in Switzerland and in the US.”
“We have established a very comprehensive approach (involving) a threat assessment involving the FIFA security officers, having an integrity manager in the stadium and approaching teams and referees before the competition. We have hotlines for athletes and we certainly do the live monitoring of the betting. We can immediately react on any kind of allegation.”
Not with him in charge any more, however.
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