Sepp Blatter, the outgoing president of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (Fifa), continues to thumb his nose at the critics.
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He had in the wake of the bribery scandal that the US government is probing, said he would step down at the next special congress of FIFA later this year. FIFA’s 209 members will return to Zurich next year to select a new president.
Potential candidates are already planning campaigns for the most high profile job in sports politics. He is not a man of politics. He himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
CNN has been told that Platini has yet to decide whether he will stand for the post.
Blatter hailed the moves toward reforms that government leaders around the world as well as football administrators have demanded. They cited not clashing with the second-tier African Nations Championship – a tournament for little-known home-based players – hosted in Rwanda from January 16 to February 7.
The proposed reforms would include integrity checks for the all-powerful 25-member executive committee, term limits for top officials and public disclosure of their earnings.
Brodkin then faced the media just as Blatter frantically gestured to his security to get Brodkin offstage. These have been heightened since the raid on the Zurich hotel to detain the seven FIFA officials.
FIFA announced the election date shortly before a scheduled news conference by Blatter.
“This will not be sufficient to win back trust in FIFA”.
Simon Brodkin, the TV prankster who hit headlines yesterday after throwing a stack of cash at Sepp Blatter, is set to be charged with trespass.
The protestor, British comedian Lee Nelson – real name Simon Brodkin – was taken away by Swiss police.
Platini voted for Qatar as the host of the 2022 World Cup. “You can ask me that question all afternoon”, he said. Blatter returned to his office for 10 minutes for the podium to be cleaned up.
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“Regarding the election, we now have a concrete date which means we can look forward to new leadership which will surely bring with it new ideas and new solutions”. The comedian, who has appeared on British television shows, is a repeat gatecrasher. During the Glastonbury Festival of 2015, he interrupted Kanye West’s performance.
