Accusations Are Replaced by Anger at FIFA

The American official who blew the whistle on the latest charges of corruption in FIFA, soccer's world governing body, said Monday that he had not seen concrete evidence of vote-buying in his two decades as a high-ranking executive in the regional confederation in which the United States plays.

But when confronted this month with substantiation of bribery attempts to influence FIFA's coming election for president, he could not ignore it, the official, Chuck Blazer, said in a brief telephone interview from Zurich, where FIFA has its headquarters.

"It was clear to me that rules were broken and were very serious," said Blazer, who is a member of FIFA's executive committee and is general secretary of the North American, Central American and Caribbean region, or Concacaf. "The idea that money would be paid for votes would have been a change I couldn't bear. It would have changed the nature of the organization and hurt innocent people."

Blazer did not describe the evidence against two FIFA executives, who have been suspended, except to say that it included photographic confirmation and affidavits detailing attempts to buy votes. He said that he thought that other revelations would be coming.

"I'm hopeful this will set a reasonable standard for others and people will be encouraged when faced with this sort of corruption, they will deal with it," Blazer said.

Soccer is the world's most popular sport, but it has repeatedly faced charges of corruption while operating with a lack of transparency and little oversight.

On Wednesday, Sepp Blatter, 75, of Switzerland, is set to run unopposed for a fourth term as FIFA's president. His former opponent, Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar, withdrew his candidacy Saturday after he was accused of trying to buy votes.

Bin Hammam and another FIFA official, Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, were suspended Sunday by a FIFA ethics committee. They have been accused by Blazer of offering cash payments of $40,000 apiece to about two dozen officials from Caribbean nations, with the understanding that they would vote for Bin Hammam over Blatter.

Warner, a FIFA vice president, is also the president of Concacaf, and Blazer is his chief deputy. The falling out between the two longtime allies has startled many soccer observers.

FIFA is now embroiled in two embarrassing bribery scandals: one regarding its presidential election, the other involving the awarding last fall of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Meanwhile, some of its top officials have begun turning against one another in a crisis that Blatter said on Monday had caused "great damage" to the governing body's image.

But FIFA remains resistant to outside intervention in reforming the organization even as its critics contend it lacks the credibility to reform itself. And there appears to be little pressure from national soccer federations, players or corporate sponsors to effect change.

"I cannot think of any institution in the world that is more safely situated for this kind of corrupt behavior than FIFA," said Andrei Markovits, a professor of political science at the University of Michigan who has written widely about soccer. "It is a closed society, a complete, literally perfect oligarchy. And it presides over a product that is completely independent of its actions. Even if these guys were child molesters and mass murderers, people aren't going to stop watching soccer."

Given such autonomy and lack of accountability within FIFA, Markovits said, "These officials would literally have to be inhuman and angels not to be corrupt."

Blatter, who has been the president since 1998, has said this will be his last term. But if he changes his mind, there are no limits to how long he and other top officials can hold office. He has been a delegate for 36 years, nearly half his life.

That was one of the reasons Bin Hammam said he decided to run for the presidency; he said Blatter had stayed on too long during a period in which FIFA has been tarnished by corruption charges, match fixing and highly publicized incidents of racism involving fans and players.

Unlike the International Olympic Committee, whose 100-plus delegates vote on important matters like the awarding of the Winter and Summer Games, FIFA's power is concentrated in a 24-member executive committee, all of them men.

FIFA also can decertify any country's soccer federation if it perceives interference from a national government. Critics say this leaves politicians reluctant to intervene, fearful of facing public wrath if a country's soccer team is suddenly declared ineligible to compete.

"I think the system is completely broken, and it's set up that way," said Grant Wahl, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated who sought to challenge Blatter for the FIFA presidency but could not persuade a national soccer federation to nominate him. "It seems like the main purpose of these guys is just to stay in power. And they will do that at whatever the cost."

At a news conference Monday in Zurich, Blatter promised "zero tolerance" of illicit behavior in the future. But he remained defiant, saying FIFA was experiencing "difficulties" but not a crisis. And he dismissed calls by Hugh Robertson, the British sports minister, and others that Wednesday's elections should be postponed because the results lacked credibility.

"I am the president of FIFA; you cannot question me," Blatter said Monday.

On Monday, Blatter seemed to retreat from a previous comment that a new vote might be held for the 2022 World Cup, in which the United States finished second to Qatar. Blatter said there was "no issue" regarding Qatar's selection for 2022.

United States soccer officials had hoped for a new vote, but they acknowledged that there was little unimpeachable evidence of impropriety. Still, Sunil Gulati, the president of U.S. Soccer, said in a telephone interview from Zurich, "I think FIFA understands there needs to be a serious review and reform process, regarding governance issues."

Gulati raised an urgent concern about FIFA: will these latest scandals signal the beginning of real reform or simply a return to business as usual?

Bin Hammam has said that his suspension was merely a power play by Blatter to preserve his chances for re-election. And Warner, the president of Concacaf, has charged that Blatter recently donated $1 million unilaterally from FIFA's coffers to the regional confederation to be used "as it deems fit," apparently to bolster his re-election chances.

Such payments are often described as development projects, but there appears to be little oversight over exactly how the money is spent.

Coca-Cola, one of FIFA's international sponsors, said Monday that the current scandals were "distressing and bad for the sport," but it did not threaten to withdraw its sponsorship. Perhaps the only way to force true reform is for top players like Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney to say they are fed up, or for powerful soccer federations like those in England and Germany to quit FIFA and form a rival governing body, Markovits, the Michigan professor said.

"Shy of that, these guys with total power can live on with merry corruption," Markovits said.