FIFA President Sepp Blatter "is said to be concerned about entering the United States due to an ongoing FBI investigation into the governing body's awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively," according to Nick Akerman of BLEACHER REPORT.
ESPN's E:60 aired a potentially revealing look at Blatter on Tuesday night. As noted by the program's Twitter account, it is suggested the 79-year-old "is unwilling to enter the U.S. due to an investigation into bribery and corruption."
FIFA "previously found no evidence of corruption or wrongdoing in its own investigation." However, the FBI "decided to continue its examination" (
BLEACHER REPORT, 5/13).
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Blatter reportedly worried about entering the U.S. due an FBI investigation.
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BLATTER'S GRIP ON POWER: Blatter was profiled on ESPN’s “E:60” Tuesday night, including his rise to power and tenure as head of FIFA. ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap said the broadcast attempted to “show how, despite innumerable controversies, despite constant scandal, he has managed for so long to maintain his grip on power.” Schaap noted, “All of FIFA's power and prestige derives from one, simple fact. It owns and operates the FIFA World Cup, the most lucrative, most popular event of any kind on planet Earth.” Schaap said if there is a “single, defining moment of Sepp Blatter’s presidency” it was when Qatar was awarded the ’22 World Cup and “even now, the decision still mystifies.” Qatar is a “tiny, but extremely wealthy nation” and has “no soccer tradition to speak of.” In addition, “summer temperatures there routinely exceed 120 degrees … and more important, human rights experts say Qatar 2022 is a catastrophe in the making.” Phaedra Al-Majid, who worked for the Qatar 2022 bid committee, said a “lot of fingers are being pointed to Qatar, ‘You’re the bad guys, you’re the bad guys,’ but the bad guys are FIFA. They're the ones who set up the rules.” Al-Majid said during a meeting in Angola that included FIFA ExCo members who controlled votes to decide the ’22 World Cup bid, she “witnessed the Qatari team offering” ExCo members $1.5M “in exchange for their vote. I was there in the room.” Al-Majid: “They agreed. It didn’t take much convincing.” But after her allegations became public Blatter did not meet with her because, according to Al-Majid, “it goes back to the fact he lives in his own little world of denial.” Schaap noted FIFA “handed out more than” $261M in World Cup bonuses to its member states after the Brazil World Cup, which is “not bad for an officially registered non-profit organization.” Schaap told Swiss Federal Assembly MP Roland Buechel FIFA “doesn’t really have to account for itself to any overarching authority.” Buechel: “It’s really a problem. It’s a problem of the laws but it’s even a bigger problem of the organization.” The FBI has been investigating FIFA with the cooperation of a former senior American official in the organization. Sources told "E:60" that with that in mind, Blatter has decided it "would be unwise to set foot on American soil" (“E:60,” ESPN, 5/12).
