British comedian Simon Brodkin, who goes by the stage name Lee Nelson, crashed the proceedings, and put what The Guardian called a stack of fake bank notes onto the table in front of Blatter.
Advertisement
The election of a new Fifa president will take place on 26 February 2016 and Sepp Blatter, the current Fifa head, has announced his decision to not stand for the role.
When Nelson was escorted away by security staff, he looked at Blatter and said: “Here we go, Sepp”, before throwing more cash in the air.
He said: “Excited to be at FIFA meeting Sepp Blatter to secure the #NorthKorea2026 World Cup”.
Current president Joseph Blatter won a fifth term at the ordinary FIFA congress on May 29 but just four days later promised to lay down his mandate amid the latest scandals to hit the world football governing body.
He will remain in office until a new president is chosen at an extraordinary Congress on Feb. 26.
The embattled FIFA boss was the victim of British prankster Simon Brodkin on Monday at a press event.
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.
Chung is one of the country’s most influential figures in football.
Chung, who was a key figure in helping South Korea land the right to co-host the 2002 World Cup with Japan, has been a longtime critic of Blatter, whom he described as a dictatorial “little brat” in a memoir published in 2011. “You can ask me that question all afternoon”, he said.
“He will be charged for trespassing because he wasn’t allowed to enter the building”.
Blatter’s news conference was short on details of the new taskforce, but a statement from the organization said it would be made up of 10 representatives of the confederations and be headed by an as yet unnamed “neutral chairman”. Only the Confederation of African Football (CAF) – led by Blatter ally Issa Hiyatou – and the Oceania confederation is not backing Platini.
Advertisement
“Along with the rest of FIFA’s Executive Committee, I feel that the creation of a task force with internal and external members to deal specifically with reforms is an important step towards improving overall processes and transparency within the organisation”, said Platini.
