Sepp Blatter may not continue as FIFA president if reports monitored from online (www.stuff.co.nz) quoting a family member is anything to go bye.He is currently facing a criminal investigation as part of soccer’s corruption scandal andd the family source said he will “definitely not” stay on as president of the FIFA governing body after the election of a new leader in February, this assertion came from his daughter.
His former public relations adviser, Klaus Stoehlker, said last week that Blatter had not ruled out trying to stay on as head of world soccer beyond the February 26 vote. But Corinne Blatter-Andenmatten said in an interview published by Swiss newspaper, Blick am Sonntag, yesterday there was “no way” he would continue, and at some point he would publish his memoirs.
“I know he wants to quit, and he will do it,” she said.
Major soccer sponsors on Friday issued coordinated calls for the immediate resignation of Blatter, who is being investigated by the Swiss on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation of funds.
Blatter, who denies wrongdoing, said through his US lawyer he would not resign as it was not in Fifa’s best interest.
The scandals surrounding global soccer exploded in May, when 14 officials and sports marketing executives were indicted on US charges of racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud in relation to bribery schemes that dated back decades.
February’s election was set after Blatter announced in June that he was standing down, just days after winning a fifth term.
Since then, the question of whether Blatter, 79, really will quit has hung over Fifa.
Swiss watch firm and FIFA sponsor Hublot did not join the calls for Blatter to step down.
“We do not believe that it is our role to interfere in the politics of FIFA,” Switzerland’s Schweiz am Sonntag newspaper quoted chairman Jean-Claude Biver as saying.
The same paper quoted Peter Gilliéron, president of the Swiss Football Association, as saying he saw no alternative to Blatter until the election.
www.stuff.co.nz
