Members of soccer’s world governing body, FIFA, are voting Friday for their president amid a corruption scandal that has rocked the organization and led to calls for the dismissal of longtime leader Sepp Blatter.
The vote comes as the FIFA World Congress meets in Zurich, Switzerland, in unprecedented disarray.
Swiss authorities are investigating the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, while a U.S. investigation has led to the arrest of leading FIFA officials on corruption charges.
Amid calls for his dismissal, Blatter blamed allegations of widespread corruption within soccer’s governing body on “a few” and called for those involved to be punished as FIFA works to rebuild its reputation.
His sole rival in the presidential contest is Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, the candidate put forward by England’s Football Association to challenge Blatter’s 17-year reign over world soccer. He’s the head of the Asian Football Conference and a vice president of FIFA.
Addressing the 65th FIFA World Congress ahead of the vote, Blatter said he took responsibility for the current crisis — but that the organization was too big for him to monitor everyone in it.
“I’m willing to accept that the president of FIFA is responsible for everything, but I would like to share that responsibility with you,” he said. “We cannot possibly supervise everybody that’s in football.”
There are 209 member associations, and altogether some 1.6 billion people are touched by the game worldwide, he said.
“We can’t let the reputation of soccer and of FIFA be dragged through the mud, we can’t accept that. Because those who (are) behind this, who are truly at fault, especially if they are convicted — they are individuals, not the entire organization.”
And in one last pitch to voters Friday, Blatter said that he wants “to climb up the path again to rearrange FIFA together with you, and straight away.”
“We don’t need a revolution,” he said, claiming “football needs a strong (and) experienced leader.” “But we still need, and always need, evolution.”
Contrast that with Prince Ali, who also addressed FIFA representatives just ahead of the vote. Referencing criticisms that FIFA is “morally bankrupt” and an “avaricious body that feeds off the game the world loves,” he argued that big change — including at the top — is needed.
“I will not hide among your ranks when things are bad, stepping forward when things are good,” Prince Ali said. “If you give me the honor of your vote, I will take full responsibility and hold myself accountable to all of you and to the world.”
Secret ballot
Friday was a busy day for the FIFA congress. Awards were handed out, speeches were given and the session was even briefly disrupted by an anonymous telephone bomb threat but resumed after police searched the venue.
It also saw a breakthrough of sorts regarding Palestinians’ objections to Israeli teams playing in the West Bank and what they call Israel’s restriction of movements of Palestinian players between the West Bank and Gaza.
Palestine Football Association chief Jibril Rajoub dropped his effort to suspend Israel’s association from FIFA because of these gripes on Friday. His Israeli counterpart Ofer Eini cheered the move, saying, “Let’s solve (the disputes) by listening to one another. … We must not include politics in FIFA.”
Still, for all these issues, the one that’s most got the world’s focus is the presidential vote.
Each of FIFA’s 209 member associations has a vote in a secret ballot. A candidate would need 140 votes on the first ballot to be president if all members vote. Blatter secured his 2011 re-election with 186 votes in his favor, out of 203.
If there is no winner after the first vote, members cast ballots again, with only a majority of 105 needed to win.
As he opened the conference Friday, Blatter — who’s running for a fifth term — called for the gathered delegates to follow the same principles as on the soccer field, “discipline, respect and fair play.”
They would have all day, rather than the 90 minutes players get, to do their work, he said, but working together they would achieve their aim.
The 79-year-old’s calls for reform come as a chorus of pundits, world leaders and European soccer’s most important official have made clear what action they believe is necessary to clean up FIFA: Blatter must go.
But while European members and the United States have voiced their desire for Blatter to stand down, he maintains the support of many other member associations.
The Asian Football Confederation said Thursday that while it was disappointed by reports of corruption, it was ready to stand by Blatter and was against delaying the presidential elections. The Asian Football Confederation has 46 voting members.
The Confederation of African Football said the same in a statement Thursday. It has 54 votes, and as recently as last month had promised to support Blatter unanimously.
The fact the ballot is secret may make the outcome of the vote more unpredictable.
But FIFA, an autonomous body, has survived corruption scandals in the past and has defiantly stood firm in the face of widespread criticism of its decisions to hand Russia and Qatar the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively.
The body announced Friday it would not hold a press conference following the presidential vote, meaning the winner will not face the media until Saturday.
UEFA president: Blatter should leave
Michel Platini, president of UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, met with other UEFA officials Thursday in Zurich to decide how best to navigate the growing scandal.
Following that meeting, the former French national player told reporters he had asked Blatter to leave, and Blatter was “very sensitive on that” but told Platini it was “too late,” given that the vote was set for Friday.
If Blatter is re-elected, Platini said, European nations could take action of their own.
“Many people, they don’t want to stay with this FIFA, and if Sepp is still the president, UEFA has to take its responsibility,” he said.
European politicians have also weighed in on the scandal.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, known as a soccer fan, called for transparency and the eradication of corruption within FIFA “so that we can all enjoy the beautiful game.”
UK Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking alongside Merkel in Berlin on Friday, said: “In my view, he should go. You can’t have accusations of corruption at this level and on this scale in this organization and pretend the person currently leading it is the right person to take it forward.”
U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday charged nine FIFA officials as well as five sports media and marketing executives over alleged kickbacks of more than $150 million dating back more than 20 years.
Blatter has not been named as a suspect in either investigation, but doubts about his leadership of world soccer have been voiced, not least because key FIFA sponsors Visa and Coca-Cola have expressed concern about its handling of persistent corruption allegations.
