Issue No.589
Sports
Previous issue
Site map
|
|
6 - 12 June 2002 Issue No.589 Sports |
Current issue Previous issue Site map | |
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Boos for the president
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter won another four-year term but not before a bruising campaign seriously damaged the reputation of football's governing body
FIFA President Sepp Blatter received a rough reception as he opened the 2002 World Cup finals on Friday with boos and whistles coming from sections of the crowd in Seoul stadium.
Many of his remarks were drowned out by the protest, and the 66-year-old Blatter was clearly unsettled by the reception.
Blatter had been supposed to remain in Seoul until the end of the first phase, but several months ago he decided to quit South Korea as quickly as possible and flew to Japan on Saturday. FIFA vice-president, Chung Mong-Joon, who is also president of the Korean FA, is one of Blatter's most bitter critics.
Chung was one of the five FIFA vice- presidents who accused Blatter of corruption and complained to the Swiss courts. They withdrew the action on Friday, two days after Blatter was easily re-elected to a second four-year term following a landslide victory over African soccer president Issa Hayatou at the federation's congress.
The executive committee's legal action was filed after receiving an explosive report from General Secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen on 3 May. In the report, the 44-year-old outlined allegations of a trail of deception, mismanagement, illegal payments and cronyism against Blatter.
The 21-page dossier stamped 'strictly confidential' revealed a secret presidential group within football's governing body that was answerable only to Blatter, in contravention of FIFA statutes.
Zen-Ruffinen later accused Blatter of running a reign of terror and charged that the financial figures put before the FIFA congress gave a misleading impression of the real state of the organisation's finances.
Zen-Ruffinen, who should be responsible for managing finances under FIFA's statutes, claimed he had been denied access to financial data for months. He also charged that Blatter had made unsanctioned payments without consulting the executive committee and had manipulated the figures to disguise FIFA's serious financial losses.
The report stunned Blatter, who denied all the allegations and insisted that FIFA's finances were healthy.
"He is in trouble," said Blatter of Zen-Ruffinen immediately after the ballot. A defiant Zen- Ruffinen said he had no plans to quit. "I won't resign," he said. "Why should I?"
In the event, Zen-Ruffinen was removed by Blatter. FIFA sources said Blatter had wanted Zen-Ruffinen, the World Cup's chief organiser, to leave immediately, but friends close to the president, fearing his immediate departure would throw the organisation of the World Cup into chaos, talked him out of it. Instead Zen-Ruffinen will leave FIFA on 4 July -- fours day after the World Cup final in Yokohama.
Despite losing by 83 votes, Hayatou said he was satisfied with his campaign and the support he had received.
"These very exciting elections, very emotional elections, have come to an end," he said. "I'd like to sincerely congratulate Mr Blatter now, who has gained your trust. I should like to tell Mr Blatter that he can count on me as he has in the past so he can work as a president should."
Blatter said he would deliver a plan to reorganise the organisation within 100 days. Sources say a major shake-up of how FIFA is run will be carried out.
Blatter was first elected president of FIFA in France in 1998, defeating European soccer chief Lennart Johansson in a vote in Paris. The designated successor of former President Joao Havelange, he won the election by promising to introduce national soccer development programmes and give the World Cup to Africa.
In his four years as president, Blatter has said the 2010 World Cup would be played in Africa. And he has played a much more hands-on role than his predecessor, limiting the powers of his general secretary.
Blatter has said that the avalanche of criticism in recent weeks was because Johansson could never accept losing the election. He insists that FIFA controlled the damage from the bankruptcy of its former marketing partner ISL/ISMM, the cancellation of its World Cup insurance in the wake of the 11 September attacks and the recent insolvency of television rights partner, Kirch.
Blatter, left, celebrates after his re-election
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
