Blatter slams critics who want to destroy FIFA

SAO PAULO: FIFA President Sepp Blatter has hit out at critics who he says want to destroy football’s governing body.
Blatter’s comments to unspecified critics were made to Asian football officials on Monday following widespread allegations by The Sunday Times of corrupt payments by their former leader Mohamed bin Hammam.
“I don’t know what the reasoning is behind this but we must maintain unity,” Blatter told the gathering of Asian Football Confederation members. “It is the best way to say to all the destructors in the world, they want to destroy not the game, but they want to destroy the institution.” The British newspaper has reported that Bin Hammam paid millions of dollars to Asian and African officials, buying influence for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup campaign and his own FIFA presidential challenge to Blatter in 2011.
Blatter also referred to “Qatargate,” a series of reports by France Football magazine, which aggressively questioned the integrity of FIFA’s World Cup hosting vote.
The FIFA chief, who is widely expected to stand for re-election next year, turned the criticism into an appeal for him to remain in office.
“We are in the situation where we need leadership. I still have fire inside me,” said the 78-year-old Blatter, who has led FIFA since 1998.
Asian officials stood to acclaim Blatter’s request for support.
Minutes earlier, he promised FIFA member countries bonus payments from 2014 World Cup profits. The tournament revenue will approach $4.5 billion for FIFA.
“I am sure you will be very happy,” Blatter said.
In 2010, Blatter pledged FIFA members would each get $250,000 bonuses from the World Cup in South Africa, and continental confederations would get $2.5 million.
FIFA pledged a further $300,000 for each country in January 2011, four months before Blatter was elected unopposed. Bin Hammam withdrew when implicated by a FIFA investigation into allegations he bribed Caribbean voters.

$27mn toward film

FIFA paid 20 million euros ($27.1 million) to help fund a movie about the World Cup featuring Tim Roth as its president, Sepp Blatter.
FIFA finance director Markus Kattner says funding for “United Passions” was agreed at the 2009 congress in the Bahamas.
Some FIFA executive committee members privately said they had no idea football income was paying for a feature film.
Kattner says it was included in FIFA’s financial report presented in 2010, in a World Cup budget. The exact purpose was unspecified.
Kattner says the film’s total budget was 23.5 million euros ($32 million).
FIFA’s contribution equals one year’s budget for its “Goal” development program.
“United Passions” stars Gerard Depardieu as World Cup founder Jules Rimet, the former FIFA president.

Corruption storm

The 64th FIFA Congress starts on Tuesday with all eyes on president Sepp Blatter as football confronts its biggest corruption scandal over the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Five of FIFA’s biggest sponsors — Hyundai, Coca Cola, Adidas, Sony and Visa — have all called for a proper investigation of alleged wrongdoing in the 2022 bid process.
Blatter, 78, is expected to use the football summit on the eve of the Brazil World Cup as a platform to announce that he will seek a fifth four-year term in the multi-billion dollar sport’s most powerful job.
But his pronouncement is likely to be overshadowed by fallout from allegations that a former Qatari football boss paid more than $5 million in bribes to get support for Qatar.
Qatar has strongly denied any wrong — doing and insisted that the official, Mohamed Bin Hammam, had no role in its bid campaign.
Amid calls for a re-vote, FIFA investigator Michael Garcia was to finish his inquiry into the 2022 vote and the 2018 bid contest, won by Russia, on Monday.
Garcia is to speak at the Congress about his work, but his report will not be handed over to the FIFA adjudicatory chamber until mid-July, when the World Cup final is held.
FIFA’s corporate backers rarely speak out on the controversies that regularly hit international football.
Their public concerns will be a worry to Blatter and FIFA’s other top leaders.
Adidas in particular expressed concern on the impact of the allegations on football’s image. Sony said the accusations have to be “investigated appropriately.” “We are confident that FIFA is taking these allegations seriously and that the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee will conduct a thorough investigation,” Hyundai said.
FIFA marketing director Thierry Weil played down their statements.
He said the sponsors “have 100 percent confidence in the investigation currently being conducted.” Experts said FIFA must now act to clean up the World Cup bidding following the statements.
“It reflects worries that the value of (the) World Cup itself could be harmed,” said Munehiko Harada, professor of sports management at Waseda University.
“It’s difficult to see what political moves are taking place behind the scene. But now the corporates have spoken, FIFA will have to respond,” Harada added.