If you’re an American, you probably don’t know any more about FIFA, the international body that governs soccer, than you do about the IAEA, the international body that governs nuclear weapons.
So imagine US law-enforcement authorities announcing the indictment of former MLB commissioner Bud Selig on criminal charges for fraud, criminal mismanagement and forgery, and times the enormity of that scandal by, oh 100. Because only then will you have a fair appreciation of what this development means in the wide world of sports:
More than six years after being ousted in a sprawling soccer corruption scandal, the former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and his onetime ally Michel Platini were indicted on fraud charges on Tuesday by the authorities in Switzerland, who accused the men of arranging a secret $2 million payment. …
The criminal charges for fraud, criminal mismanagement and forgery follow a yearslong investigation into the payment, which came to light in 2015 after prosecutors at the United States Department of Justice revealed corrupt practices at FIFA dating back at least two decades. That investigation resulted in the arrest and conviction of dozens of powerful soccer officials and marketing executives on charges that included racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Blatter was not charged at the time, even as the scandal brought down most of FIFA’s top leadership.
(The New York Times November 2, 2021)
But here is how I warned Blatter this day would come in “Soccer Shocker. Blatter Resigns!” June 3, 2015:
________
In my original commentary, “FIFA: Soccer’s Federation of Imbeciles, Fraudsters & Autocrats,” May 29, 2015, I stated my belief that Blatter is the prime suspect in the FBI’s ongoing investigation.
But it’s standing operating procedure in major bribery/racketeering/corruption cases for agents to arrest the capos and consigliere, and get them to sing like canaries for plea deals, to bolster their case against the boss. No doubt Blatter knew or was duly informed of this procedure after Swiss authorities arrested fourteen of his underlings last Wednesday.
This is why I also believe he intended to resign even before Friday’s election at the FIFA Congress. Only his ego is such that he wanted the perch of another re-election coronation to make his resignation appear more magnanimous than mandatory.
This about-face only makes African and Caribbean delegates, his most compromised supporters, look like even bigger imbeciles than I intimated. After all, they not only voted for him en bloc, but each then waited his turn to kiss Blatter’s brass ring. …
All that’s left to make complete fools of his willful supporters is for Blatter to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s overture to flee into exile. Perhaps he can take up residence in one of the many unoccupied luxury condos in Sochi — that white elephant of a city Putin built to host his 2014 Winter Olympics.
__________
Alas, at this rate, sickly 85 year-old Blatter is likely to die in hospital before he goes on trial, let alone spends a day in prison. And so, even though his name will be forever tarnished, it seems he will get away with having treated FIFA like his venal fiefdom for 17 years.
Related commentaries:
Soccer shocker…