A couple weeks ago, we were overjoyed about the news that Sepp Blatter announced his resignation as FIFA President and a new President would be elected in an “extraordinary” congress. Now, it appears he may have second thoughts.
An unnamed source in a Swiss newspaper said that after receiving many messages from Asian and African federations urging Blatter to stay on as FIFA President, he may reconsider.
It’s also reported that Blatter got a change of heart when FIFA’s Director of Communications Walter de Gregorio had to resign after telling a joke on Swiss TV making fun of Blatter. It’s said that de Gregorio had been one of Blatter’s biggest critics and one of the most vocal in him resigning.
Look, at this point, I have no clue what’s going to happen next. First, I never thought FIFA would actually get busted for corruption and then, I never thought Sepp Blatter would actually resign. Now that he’s thinking about undersigning, I honestly can see that happening with Blatter.
Look at it this way. It’s entirely possible that now that in his mind, Blatter feels like he’s entirely within his power to run again for FIFA President. This is a “new” FIFA and a “different” FIFA. Sure people can say there was corruption for all of those previous elections but now that FIFA has “changed,” if Blatter wins this new election, in his mind, that means he won fairly and no one can say he won by corruption. You and I both know that’s not the case because of the amount of power he already carries but in his mind, that’s entirely legitimate.
The only way we know FIFA will really change is if FIFA pulls a “Napoleon” and get Blatter exiled to Elba and take away his ability to communicate with the outside world. Since that’s not happening, we’re stuck with the “same old FIFA” until we see anything noticeably different. Even if Blatter resigns and doesn’t run for FIFA President, he is still helping select who’s on this committee that chooses the candidates and his public support for a candidate is “worth” a lot and weighs a lot of power with Asia and Africa. And if history is any indication, Blatter’s influence can lead someone to realistically be President for the next few decades. Don’t let Blatter’s actions fool you, there’s still a lot of room for corruption in the “new” FIFA.
