According to Sepp Blatter, any of the criticism and attacks hurled his way are little more than personal attacks and political ploys.
Blatter, who is currently serving a 90-day ban from FIFA, says that the U.S. and England’s frustrations with his leadership stem from the nations’ defeats in World Cup bidding. Meanwhile, Blatter says Michel Platini and UEFA’s urgings to stand down from his post were a “personal attack”.
“Yeah, (Platini) started it, but then it became politics,” Blatter told Russian outlet TASS, “and when it is in politics, it is not any longer Platini against me. It is then those who have lost the World Cup. England against Russia. They lost the World Cup. And the USA lost the World Cup against Qatar. But you cannot destroy FIFA. FIFA is not the Swiss bank.
“If the USA was given the World Cup,” Blatter added, “we would only speak about the wonderful World Cup 2018 in Russia and we would not speak about any problems at FIFA.”
Here are some more news and notes to kick off your Wednesday morning:
FIFA CLEARS 7 CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENCY
FIFA has cleared seven candidates for the organization’s upcoming presidential election, while one major name’s status remains up in the air.
Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, Gianni Infantino, Tokyo Sexwale, Musa Bility, Jerome Champagne and Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa are all set to run in the upcoming presidential election, which is set for Feb. 26. The candidacy of Michel Platini, meanwhile, remains to be determined as his candidacy will not be validated until the expiration of his 90-day ban.
“Given that Michel Platini is currently provisionally banned from taking part in any football-related activity, his candidature will not be processed by the ad-hoc electoral committee as long as such ban is valid and in force,” FIFA said in a statement.
“Should such a ban be lifted or expire before the FIFA presidential election, the ad-hoc electoral committee would decide, depending on the respective exact point in time, on how to proceed with the candidature concerned.”
FIFA’s three-man election panel will announce next month which of the candidates have been fully accepted following an integrity check.
DIEGO COSTA HOSPITALIZED WITH RIB INJURY
Tuesday’s shootout defeat to Stoke City went from bad to worse for Chelsea.
Jose Mourinho revealed that Diego Costa has been hospitalized with a rib injury. Costa started Tuesday’s match before departing in the 33rd minute after picking up the injury.
The 27-year-old forward’s status remains in doubt for this weekend’s Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge with Liverpool. As things stand, Chelsea currently sits 15th with just 11 points through 12 league games.
QUICK KICKS
Christian Beneteke has reportedly been ruled out for Liverpool’s clash with Bournemouth on Wednesday due to a knee injury. (REPORT)
Valencia striker Rodrigo will be out until 2016 after suffering a left knee injury. (REPORT)
Javier Mascherano will not miss El Classico after being handed a two-match ban for an outburst towards a linesman. (REPORT)
UEFA has launched a formal investigation into an attack on four black fans during Dynamo Kiev’s Champions League draw with Chelsea. (REPORT)
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What do you think of Blatter’s comments? Who do you see as favorite for FIFA’s presidency? Any concerns over Costa?
Share your thoughts below.
Watch the video of the racist Dynamo Kiev fans attacking black Dynamo Kiev fans at their match. To me, this is why MLS is an attractive league. Racism exists in the USA, but attacks like this occur regularly in many parts of Eastern Europe, whereas racist violence like this has been largely disappearing since the 60s. Watch the video and read the responses.
FIFA should ban the USA from the World Cup for interfering with their business using. A 20 year ban. How can the us interfere with such a
Sepp is delusional. if Australia got the WC, no one would be saying anything. it has nothing to do with the US not getting it and everything to do with Qatar getting it. how he does not see that is astonishing.
Sepp has lost his mind.
Other websites include this quote from Blatter: “He said: “In 2010 we had a discussion of the World Cup and then we went to a double decision. For the World Cups it was agreed that we go to Russia because it’s never been in Russia, eastern Europe, and for 2022 we go back to America. And so we will have the World Cup in the two biggest political powers.”
The scumbag openly admits the voting process was irrelevant. How is this not the headline?
Good question. ¿Que pasa, SBI? It is a headline on ESPNfc. Then again, that bit about it being fixed is a redundancy by now. I do want to know about how the fix was allegedly in for the USA. I guess that was probably Chuck & Jack, and while Chuck had already been turned by the Feds.
Agreed. The comment from the FA chairman about it would be nice to get the £21 million back they spent on bidding is what I was thinking about before I got to it. There could be some very interesting developments coming down the pipe.
Tokyo Sexwale?
Blatter: If we hadn’t taken bribes and given the World Cup to a completely underwhelming country, you wouldn’t be investigating us for taking bribes.
Solid logic Sepp.
Is that why the Swiss are investigating FIFA as well?
I didn’t think it was possible but the ads on the new version of the site are even more annoying and intrusive than the ads on the previous version. Amazing work!
At least the new adds aren’t asking us if we have ED or desire the company of an Asian lady
I believe those algorithms are generated from your browsing history.
then I must be cured because I don’t get those pop ups anymore.
GET OFF MY YARD YOU DANG KIDS!!!
there is a program for that. blocked 17 ads on this page alone.
“FIFA is not the Swiss Bank.” Although we do operate with the same level of secrecy.
Blatter is not that far off. The crimes committed by FIFA in the US were relatively minor. Nobody got arrested as a result of the Salt Lake Olympic scandal or the various banking scandals that were much larger.
There was more to this story: Namely American interests
Blatter’s explanations/excuses actually make sense. The fix was in, but when that deal got messed up, we complained. Not so farfetched.
Yea, never mind the facts.