So we’ve had another big day of news out of Zurich. FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini havebeen suspended. FIFA’s ethics committee has also suspended general secretary Jerome Valcke though that was sort of overkill as Blatter already relieved him ofhis duties. And Chung Mong Joon, the scion of the Hyundai empire and arguably the richest industrialist in soccer, was slapped with a six-year ban.
What does that mean for soccer? Who knows? And therein lies the problem. Soccer’s credibility is in tatters, and there’s no guarantee things will get better any time soon. All the talk for years hasbeen about transparency. We’d simply take clarity for the time being. Problem is, there is nothing clear about what has happened and what lies next.
To understand what has happened, youneed to understand FIFA has two ethics committees: the investigatory chamber — which prosecutes — and adjudicatory chamber — which renders a verdict. FIFA is so proud of its accomplishments that itpublished a timeline of all its decisions.Not that the two chambers always agree. Famously, American prosecutor Michael Garcia investigated the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids but quit in protest withinhours after German judge Hans Joachim Eckert published his watered-down findings.
In the case of Blatter, Platini and Valcke, we don’t know whyGerman judge Hans Joachim Eckert suspended them — nothing more than the suspensions are based on the “investigations that are being carried out by theinvestigatory chamber” — as the ethics committee’s own rules forbid it from commenting on its verdicts. How’s that for transparency? Blatter blames it all ona “misunderstanding” of the Swiss attorney general’s criminal investigation in his dealings with former Concacaf president Jack Warner and Platini. The caseagainst Chung was based on the Garcia investigation into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, but we don’t know entirely what the case against Chung is because the Garcia report has never been publishedin full.
What’s next? This is where it gets very murky. Blatter, Platini, Valcke and Chung have two days to file notice of appeals of their suspensions to the FIFA appeals committee –the chairman is a Bermudan defense attorney — and they can also take their cases to Court of Arbitration for Sport. (The CAS upheld Mohamed bin Hammam‘s appealof his soccer ban in 2011 but not before the damage was done — he was disqualified from running for president against Blatter. Bin Hammam, one of FIFA’s many serial trouble-makers, was later banned asecond time on unrelated matters and resigned from all soccer activities.)
In the meantime, who’s minding the shop? Cameroonian Issa Hayatou, theAfrican confederation president, has been confirmed as interim FIFA president, but he is in ill health, on dialysis for kidney problems. Whether he’ll be more than a figurehead remains to seen.Platini was ready to fight the FIFA suspension — which prohibits him from having anything to do with soccer for the next 90 days — but by the end of Thursday, UEFA said that Spaniard
As with just about every member of the FIFA executive committee who voted on the 2018and 2022 World Cup hosts, Hayatou and Villar have not come out unscathed. Hayatou was accused by a Qatari whistle-blower of accepting a $1.5 million bribe to support Qatar’s 2022 bid. Villar is underinvestigation by the FIFA ethics committee for refusing to cooperate with Garcia’s investigation.
And what about the big prize? FIFA’s 209 member associations are scheduled to vote on thenext FIFA president on Feb. 26. Candidates have until Oct. 26 to support their candidacy with declarations of support of at least five members. (Perhaps aware of his impending trouble, Platiniannounced Thursday morning he had submitted his five letters of recommendation.) But before a candidate can run for president, he or she must pass an “integrity check” conducted by the investigatorychamber of FIFA’s ethics committee, as per FIFA electoral rules that run 16 pages.
Until a week ago, Platini was the heavy favorite to succeed Blatter. But will his candidacy pass an “integrity check”? And if cannot campaign during his suspension, which could extend untildays before the Feb. 26 election, does he still have a realistic shot?
What about other candidates? Prince Ali of Jordan is again presenting himself as the reform candidate. Butif he couldn’t beat Blatter in June two days after Swiss police descended upon a Zurich luxury hotel and arrested seven FIFA officials — he lost 133-73 — he likely won’t win again. Tellingly, U.S.Soccer, which nominated and voted for Prince Ali in May, has not made a public statement about its intent to nominate or support Prince Ali or any candidate. (That says as much about the fluidity ofthe situation as anything else.)
If not Prince Ali, then who? Names being thrown about in recent days are former South Africa freedom fighter TokyoSexwale — as recently as 2013 detained at U.S. customs after being mistakenly included on a terrorist list dating back to his apartheid days — and Bahraini Sheikh Ali Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the president of the African soccer confederation. Both would be considered Blatter allies.
But it’s clear that FIFA’s own electoral rulesmake what is essential impossible. For there to be any chance of meaningful change in how FIFA works or is viewed, the next FIFA president must come from outside the existing FIFA family. The catch isthat, according to FIFA’s electoral rules, a candidate must have held an active role in soccer for at least two of the last five years.
Perhaps the strongest rebuke to Thursday’sdevelopments came from Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee president, who said, “Enough is enough.” For anything to change, Bach said FIFA must be”open for a credible external presidential candidate of high integrity, to accomplish the necessary reforms and bring back stability and credibility to FIFA.”
But how can that change withthe election process already in motion and the deadline for candidates less than three weeks away? What happens if no one passes an integrity check? Blatter’s dream scenario — he gets to keep hisjob?
The only body can put put the brakes on the FIFA presidential train before it leaves the station is the FIFA executive committee, which is not scheduled to meet again until December.It was scheduled to be held in Tokyo in conjunction with the Club World Cup but Blatter, fearing arrest if he left Switzerland, insisted the meeting be moved to Zurich. (Blatter’s dilemma isreminiscent of the line from Major Strasser in the movie Casablanca: “Victor Laszlo, it is not safe to stay in Casablanca, it is not safe to leave Casablanca.”)
In his first commentssince Thursday’s suspensions, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati, a member of the FIFA executive committee, called for “an emergency executive committee meetingto discuss the way forward over the near term,” a meeting that could put a halt to the electoral process and allow it to start anew.
These are all only the administrative processes inplay. The ethics committee is the least of Blatter’s worries. He has for the last four months refused to leave Switzerland for fear of arrest in a country with an extradition agreement with the UnitedStates. And that was before the Swiss AG came knocking on his door. U.S. and Swiss authorities expect more arrests in an investigation that hasn’t even reached, to use a soccer term, halftime.
The big unknown is when and on whom the next shoe will fall. And without knowing that, the business of soccer will soon screech to a halt.
let the Donald do it…….
Condi Rice likes Football and was Considered fot NFL Comish…Oops…Wrong Football…