UEFA "will not boycott the World Cup" but UEFA President Michel Platini and others "could join David Gill in refusing to serve" on FIFA’s exec committee when European football’s leaders meet to discuss their response to FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s re-election, according to Ben Rumsby of the London TELEGRAPH. Platini "would not support any Football Association-led move to pull out of Russia 2018 -- nor the creation of a rebel tournament featuring the likes of Brazil and Argentina -- following the corruption scandal" that has left FIFA on the "brink of meltdown." Both ideas are likely to be raised at an emergency UEFA ExCo meeting ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final, at which Platini said its 17 members would be "open to all options." But the Frenchman, who is a FIFA VP, "also made it clear he did not want a World Cup boycott," while it is understood he is set to snub a proposal from Danish UEFA ExCo member Allan Hansen to stage a new competition featuring sides from Europe and South America (TELEGRAPH, 6/1). The AP reported English football leaders "have been long-standing critics of Blatter and are hoping for action from Platini." FA Chair Greg Dyke said, "It does require real leadership and Mr. Platini has now got to stand up. He stood up and criticized Sepp Blatter. He’s now got to lead the opposition." German FA (DFB) President Wolfgang Niersbach, a new member of FIFA’s ruling ExCo, cautioned that "boycotts are always a bad weapon." Niersbach: "I don’t see that it helps us Europeans to boycott the (FIFA) executive committee" (AP, 6/1). INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL's Andrew Warshaw wrote up to one third of Europe "may have defied" Platini's request and voted for Blatter. Platini's call for a unified stance against Blatter "was ignored by a string of nations including Russia and much of the eastern bloc, Spain, possibly Turkey, and, as already reported, Platini's native France." A source close to Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, Blatter's only challenger, said, "We believe as many as 18 Europeans may have voted for Blatter. That's our analysis and we are examining it." The European split "casts fresh light on next Saturday's UEFA emergency session." Blatter's decision (via the ExCo) not to tamper with World Cup places, having said the previous day that Oceania deserved its own full slot, "is seen in some quarters as a deliberate olive branch" to prevent UEFA from taking drastic action on Saturday (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 6/1).
ASIA BEHIND BLATTER: REUTERS' Nick Mulvenney wrote there "were a few fissures but no major cracks" apparent in Blatter's bedrock of Asia-Pacific support as officials began returning to the region from the annual congress. Asia's 47-nation bloc, and the less numerous but equally supportive Oceania Football Confederation, "were significant backers of Blatter's campaign to be re-elected for a fifth term, despite the corruption scandal engulfing FIFA." It "looks unlikely" that any football bodies in the region "will back Britain's call for a Europe-led boycott of the World Cup if Blatter does not resign his post" (REUTERS, 6/1).
BREAKAWAY WORLD CUP? In London, Charles Sale wrote a European Championship every two years with invites to other big football countries outside Europe "is one of the proposals" UEFA is putting forward in the fight against FIFA corruption. The initiative "would see all the top-ranked teams in world football take part in a competition that would not be under the jurisdiction" of Blatter's administration. The "radical plan" was proposed by Hansen -- "one of the powerbrokers keen on UEFA breaking away from FIFA -- at a meeting of Europe's 54 territories and ahead of 79-year-old Blatter's re-election for a fifth term as president last Friday." And the fact that Blatter defeated his rival for the presidency, Prince Ali, despite the latter having more than half of South America's CONMEBOL confederation voting for him, "gives extra credence to Hansen's plan." Hansen believes his plan "would be attractive enough to take significant sponsorship and broadcasting rights -- FIFA's two important revenue streams -- away from Zurich until FIFA reforms itself to the extent that UEFA feel they can take part in a global World Cup once again." This "will not happen until Blatter is deposed but the belief is growing that it will occur a long time before the finish of his latest four-year tenure" (DAILY MAIL, 5/31).
'ALL ABOUT QATAR': In London, Pavia & Kay wrote former Qatar PM Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani "denied claims that his country paid large bribes to win the right to host the 2022 World Cup and accused the west of racism, Islamophobia and bias against Arabs and the Gulf state." Sheikh al-Thani, who was PM and foreign minister of Qatar until '13, said that claims of corruption against his nation had been made by countries that had lost out in "a fair competitiom." He said, "See how they don’t talk about Russia with Qatar. We support of course Russia, to have their turn in 2018. But we see the talk ... is all about Qatar, because it comes to a small, Arab, Islamic country. That’s how people feel." His comments "are the first public response from within Qatar’s ruling family" since the U.S. indictment of FIFA officials (LONDON TIMES, 6/1).
MAKING AN EXIT: In London, Rory Smith wrote English football’s anger at Blatter’s enduring reign at FIFA "has resulted in Heather Rabbatts becoming the second FA representative to withdraw from the game’s governing body in just four days." Rabbatts said that she stood down from her role on the organization’s anti-racism taskforce because of FIFA’s "unacceptable" lack of reform. Rabbatts, an independent director of the FA and chairwoman of the Inclusion Advisory Board, released a statement reaffirming her "commitment to challenging discrimination across the game" but confirming that she felt so strongly about the scandals tarnishing FIFA’s image that she could no longer continue to form part of the Task Force Against Racism and Discrimination. Her withdrawal follows the refusal of Gill to take his seat on FIFA’s ExCo "in protest at Blatter’s re-election as president" (LONDON TIMES, 6/1). INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL's Samindra Kunti wrote FIFA ExCo member Michel D'Hooghe from Belgium "has added his voice to continued European criticism" of Blatter following his re-election last week. D'Hooghe said "it's high time for change" in FIFA and questioned his own future within the organization. D'Hooghe: "The European position is well-known. We thought it would be good to have a new wind blow through FIFA, because Blatter is already 79 and starts a fifth term. But we are subject to the democracy of the elections. I shook his hand out of courtesy. ... I have been shouldering the medical responsibility at FIFA for 27 years, but can not reconcile myself with the institution now I understand that there are a lot of corruption cases. But my conclusion is clear: I no longer want to participate in this situation. It's high time that changes are made. If this atmosphere persists at FIFA, then I don't have a place in it" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 6/1).
SHOWING SUPPORT: GOAL's Michael Huguenin reported former FIFA presidential candidate Jerome Champagne declared the "political controversies" of football's governing body are not Sepp Blatter's fault but that of the ExCo. Speaking to Perform in the aftermath of Blatter's re-election as president on Saturday, Champagne "claimed the inability of the FIFA president to appoint its own government -- the executive committee, or ExCo -- makes it difficult to institute reform" (GOAL, 6/1). The London GUARDIAN reported former Brazil player Pelé "has welcomed" the re-election of Blatter as FIFA president. Pelé backed Blatter’s re-election and believes that "his experience made the Swiss the only choice for the post." Pelé: "I was in favor. It was necessary because it is better to have people with experience" (GUARDIAN, 6/1).
ARGENTINE INVESTIGATION: The BUENOS AIRES HERALD reported Argentina Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP) Dir Ricardo Echegaray has revealed that the tax agency "has not ruled out an investigation into the assets held by the family of late Argentine FA president Julio Grondona, in the wake of this week's FIFA scandal." Echegaray: "It depends on what proof and information can be found. If there are commissions that were not declared we will have to look into it and make demands for the issues of the assets that are still pending." Although he was not specifically named by the U.S. Justice Department investigation into corruption in world football, Grondona is "believed to have pocketed bribes" worth up to $15M while negotiating TV rights for the Copa América competition. Argentine businessmen Alejandro Burzaco and Hugo and Mariano Jinkis have been indicted for their "alleged role in the scandal." Echegaray admitted that it was the AFIP's duty to "investigate the money trail." He said, "We need to know if there are undeclared funds subjected to taxation. What most concerns us is for these businessmen to pay the Argentine people what they are owed" (BUENOS AIRES HERALD, 5/31).
ON THE AIR: ESPN’s Bob Ley said “eyewitness reports outside” where the FIFA presidential elections were taking place noted a “number of the delegates leaving in an angry state, talking darkly of a mafia running international soccer.” ABC’s Kendis Gibson was live in Zurich for the vote and said “we met so many” delegates leaving the election who “were so angry with the way things turned out. This really showed the divide that was talking place inside that room.” Ley said the U.S. was “acting out of principle” by supporting Prince Ali but they “backed the losing horse and the history of people who have done that in dealing with Sepp Blatter is not a promising one" (“OTL,” ESPN, 5/29). ESPN's Gabriele Marcotti said after Blatter was re-elected “he was ready to gloat, he reminded the world that he got more than 60 percent of the vote so he’s the man in charge and he doesn’t feel spooked or rattled by these indictments because they don’t touch him directly" (“ESPN FC,” ESPN2, 5/29). ESPN’s Howard Bryant said Blatter being re-elected shows “how powerful they are, there’s no accountability, they can do whatever they want.” ESPN’s Jemele Hill said, “What incentive did they have not to keep it going considering how we’ve seen such staggering levels of corruption within their infrastructure? They call him the most powerful man in sports for a reason and we saw that power on display" (“The Sports Reporters,” ESPN, 5/31).
