Momentous events concerning a corrupt football administration have taken an abrupt turn with the resignation of Fifa president Sepp Blatter, who only days ago was in his element after being re-elected in the face of stiff international opposition. News has emerged that the 79-year-old Swiss administrator may himself be under investigation by US authorities in the $150 million corruption scandal. As soon as it emerged that Fifa paid $10 million on behalf of the South African federation, host of the 2010 World Cup, to Jack Warner’s front organisations in the Caribbean, the game was really up for Fifa’s general secretary, Jerome Valcke, Blatter’s main go-to man. The fingers were pointing directly at the top now rather than just below in the federation that has controlled the world’s favourite game for four decades of its most prosperous era.
The call is going out for a roots-and-branch structural reform process in Fifa although Blatter, in cleverly seeing to it that he would be in his seat until he can manipulate his succession, may call the shots for a while more unless the FBI closes in quickly. His lifestyle as a virtual head of state in the 209-nation universal sweep of football, at an estimated $10 million a year, may have to end soon. The state of the 111-year-old history of organised football is in bad need of repair after having been taken over by greedy administrators and executives who determined valuable television and other commercial rights. It would be in the interests of football to bring in a unifying figure who can work Fifa out of the quagmire.
