Swiss FIFA President Joseph (Sepp) Blatter
FIFA President Sepp Blatter chaired an emergency meeting with continental soccer bodies yesterday while staying out of public view himself.
Blatter called together leaders of FIFA’s six regions as world soccer is rocked by an American federal racketeering case.
“There was a meeting today with the president with the representatives from the confederations to discuss the current situation,” FIFA spokeswoman Delia Fischer said in a statement.
Blatter is resisting calls from European soccer body UEFA to postpone today’s FIFA presidential election by six months.
UEFA has called the dual American and Swiss federal probes a “disaster for FIFA,” and is supporting Blatter’s election opponent, FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan.
Blatter has continued to avoid appearing in public since Swiss federal agencies raided FIFA headquarters and a luxury Zurich hotel early Wednesday. He missed giving a scheduled speech to open a session of FIFA’s medical conference in a Zurich hotel — his third skipped public appearance within 24 hours.
FIFA chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak told delegates that Blatter has to “manage the situation.”
Two FIFA vice presidents were among seven men arrested at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice. In a separate investigation, Swiss federal agencies seized evidence at FIFA headquarters for a probe of the 2018-2022 World Cup bidding contests.
Blatter skipped two meetings of continental soccer organizations from Africa and South America on Wednesday. He typically would attend those ahead of today’s annual congress of FIFA’s 209 member federations.
Late Wednesday, FIFA issued a statement on behalf of Blatter where the president insisted he was determined to root out misconduct.
The FIFA president would also usually follow protocol and attend yesterday’s UEFA meeting. He was scheduled to appear later in the day. Graham Dunbar, Sports Writer, Zurich, AP
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