Banned FIFA President Sepp Blatter "will be turned away from the upcoming election to replace him, as well as risk an even more severe sanction, if he dares attend the congress" on Feb. 26, according to Andrew Warshaw of INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL.
Speculation "is rife that Blatter may openly flout his eight-year ban by making a defiant final stand so that he can take centrestage and officially hand over to his successor, potentially throwing the entire proceedings into chaos." Blatter, who is desperate not to go quietly, "has long insisted that under FIFA rules, only its 209 member federations who elect a president can formally remove another." He also claims that "when he announced at the start of June that he was stepping down -- before he was banned -- he never specified an exact date." Blatter and Platini "are due to have their appeals heard next week, days before the ballot in Zurich." If they clear their names, both "would be free anyway to attend the election though FIFA's appeals committee is expected to uphold the original judgement, forcing both powerbrokers to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport."
A source close to the electoral process said, "If Blatter is still banned and turns up without accreditation, he will be turned away by security officials. He would not be granted access. Would he really risk such humiliation?" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 2/8).
RUSSIAN HOSPITALITY: REUTERS' Jack Stubbs wrote Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that Blatter and Platini "will be invited to the 2018 World Cup in Russia." Mutko said that Blatter and Platini "were appealing against their bans" and still permitted to attend football events.
Mutko:
"Formally, the suspension prohibits them from any position in football. But on the other hand, how is that an outstanding player like Michel Platini can't go to the football? We will invite them, I see no problems with the events we are hosting" (REUTERS, 2/8).
CONFLICT OF INTEREST? The BBC's Piers Edwards wrote the Liberian FA said that Domenico Scala, the man overseeing FIFA's presidential polls, "should step aside due to conflict of interest." Scala, who heads up FIFA's Ad-Hoc Electoral Committee, is Swiss-Italian -- "as is Gianni Infantino, one of the five presidential candidates." LFA Chair Musa Bility said that "he will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if Scala does not withdraw by Thursday." However Andreas Bantel, a spokesperson for Scala, said "the fact that a member of the ad-hoc electoral committee has the same nationality as a candidate does not result in a conflict of interest" (BBC, 2/8). ENCA reported two former African football players, Jay Jay Okocha and Lucas Radebe, "have thrown their weight" behind FIFA presidential candidate Tokyo Sexwale (ENCA, 2/8).
