FIFA crisis: Will Sepp Blatter stay? Could World Cups be moved?
Thursday 28 May 2015 15:29, UK
With new details seemingly emerging by the minute, we review the FIFA crisis as it has developed so far and answer all the key questions.
What is this all about?
The biggest football corruption scandal ever involving bribes up to $110m and some of football’s most prominent administrators.
Who was arrested and why?
Fourteen in total, including nine FIFA executives. The biggest name is Jeffrey Webb, a FIFA vice-president and a man tipped to be a potential presidential candidate in four years' time. Also being questioned is Jack Warner, the former head of CONCACAF, who resigned from FIFA in 2011 after bribery allegations.
What does this mean for the presidential election?
Officially, nothing. FIFA insists the show will go on at the Congress this week with the election slated for Friday afternoon.
Will it still go ahead?
It appears so. UEFA have said they will not boycott the election and the biggest voting block, Confederation of African Football (CAF), want it to go ahead as planned. It almost certainly will.
How does that work?
All 209 FIFA members get a vote, so a smaller country like Tonga has just as much of a say as world champions Germany. To win the election a candidate needs 105 votes during the secret ballot.
What does this mean for Blatter?
Despite what’s happened, he’s still the front runner. CAF, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation have all declared for Blatter – if that’s the case on Friday then he’ll easily win a majority.
What is the FA’s view?
They want Blatter out, plain and simple. They are one of the five associations that nominated Prince Ali. FA president Greg Dyke has already said they’ll be voting for him with the government’s backing.
Is there a chance that the World Cup venues could be affected over this and switch away from Russia and Qatar?
The bidding behind the two controversial World Cups is being investigated by Swiss authorities. The World Cup in Russia is just over 1,000 days away, which isn’t that long really. If FIFA takes the extraordinary step of taking a World Cup away from them expect an expensive and lengthy legal battle. Russia insist there was nothing wrong with their bid.
Any chance one could end up in England?
Probably not. England has the infrastructure and stadia to host a World Cup at short notice but so do a fair few countries and it’s fair to say England isn’t the most popular at FIFA.
What are the sponsors saying?
Visa has promised it will “reassess” its sponsorship if FIFA doesn’t sort this out. Kia Motors are “extrememly concerned”, while Budweiser are “closely monitoring the situation” and Coca-Cola expects FIFA to “address these issues thoroughly”. Only Visa has threatened to pull out.
