Soccer: Blatter to fight as FIFA row grows

FIFA president Sepp Blatter posted notice today that he will fight to the bitter end to maintain his place as the most powerful man in world football.

It was confirmed at a news conference in Zurich that Britain’s David Will is to head a six-man audit committee to look at FIFA’s books and investigate the collapse of former marketing partners ISL.

They are to report back by April 30. However, Blatter raised the prospect of holding an extraordinary congress of all 204 national associations, the area where his power base lies, to discuss financial matters.

In effect, that is a veiled threat towards dissenting members of the executive committee, FIFA’s ruling body, to back down.

The executive committee are now a painful thorn in Blatter’s side. They have forced Blatter to accept an investigation team, though the president insists it is a mere internal audit, and what’s more that it was his idea.

This morning the executive committee also refused to rubber-stamp the finance committee’s ratification of accounts.

The president has attempted to get in the first blow, and said the six-man panel would not have the scope to inquire into allegations that his supporters paid cash for votes in his 1998 election, nor would be allowed to look into financial matters ‘‘at a presidential level’’.

Regarding allegations of corruption involving his supporters, Blatter told the news conference: ‘‘Allegations have been made in 1998 which have been the subject of inquiries and in court, and these have been settled and I am not going to give a platform to those who doubt the correctness of my election in 1998.

‘‘If somebody has to make remarks or disapprove of the president it is the Congress and not the audit committee.

‘‘I convinced them this morning that this is the fact, I have nothing to hide. There were some specific questions this morning and they were specifically, openly answered.

‘‘We have nothing to hide. We work with such a transparency in FIFA.

‘‘Already 54 national associations have asked me to convene an extraordinary congress of FIFA to discuss, before the elective congress in Seoul, all matters relating to finance and I am sure on Monday the number will be double that.’’

The six-man audit committee - which Blatter insisted was his idea - will be chaired by Will, FIFA’s Scottish senior vice-president, and the other members are Chung Mong-joon (Korea), Slim Aloulou (Tunisia), Basil Scarsella (Australia), Chuck Blazer (USA) and either Ricardo Terra Teixeira (Brazil).

The first three are among the group who pressed for the investigation, Blazer and Teixeira are in Blatter’s camp while Scarsella has been regarded as one of the president’s men in the past, though that position may have changed.

The bankruptcy of ISL, a subsidiary of the International Sports Media and Marketing group which negotiated FIFA’s television and sponsorship deals, led to the cancellation of last year’s World Club Championship in Spain and forced FIFA to set up its own in-house marketing unit.

Blatter insists the collapse cost FIFA around €35.8m, but there have been claims the true damage could be as much as 10 times that.

There have also been claims that Blatter has borrowed around €488m on the basis of projected income from the 2006 World Cup.

African confederation leader Issa Hayatou is expected to announce next weekend that he will stand against Blatter on May 29.

One thing for certain, Blatter will not go without a fight.