A U.S. Senate panel invited FIFA President Sepp Blatter to "answer questions at a hearing this Wednesday about the corruption scandal" that has "badly tarnished" football's global governing body but a congressional official said that FIFA "declined on his behalf," according to Hosenball & Evans of REUTERS. Garrette Turner, a spokesperson for Senator Jerry Moran, said, "Sen. Moran's office reached out to FIFA to explore the possibility of having Mr. Blatter testify but the organization declined." FIFA "did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Blatter's legal representative in the U.S. declined to comment." Also missing from the hearing will be U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati, who is a member of FIFA's exec committee representing the North America region. He has been USSF president since '06. The USSF will be "represented instead" by CEO & Secretary General Dan Flynn. Moran's office said that Flynn was "the highest ranking official U.S. Soccer was willing to send" to testify at the hearing. The USSF "did not respond to a question" about why Flynn and not Gulati was appearing. Senators will "ask what if anything, current American soccer executives knew about alleged corruption in the sport's governing bodies, congressional aides said" (REUTERS, 7/13).
BLATTER TO FACE MEDIA: REUTERS' Brian Homewood reported Blatter is "set to face the media
in Zurich on July 20 for the first time since he announced last month
that he would step down as president" of FIFA. FIFA said on Monday that Blatter and Secretary General Jérôme Valcke will "both take
part in a news conference after an executive committee meeting which
will set the date for the extraordinary FIFA Congress and presidential
election." The meeting at FIFA HQ will "also discuss possible structural reforms to FIFA." These proposals, "which are likely to include changes in the way the executive committee is elected, would then be put to the FIFA Congress" (REUTERS, 7/13).
