SEOUL, May 28: FIFA president Sepp Blatter, fighting to hang on to his job, faced boos and jeers as a congress on the finances of world soccer degenerated into one of the most dramatic international sports meetings in recent memory.
Opponents of Blatter, who accuse FIFA’s Swiss president of mismanaging its finances, told reporters he had quashed balanced debate at Tuesday’s one-day extraordinary congress on the eve of the election for the world governing body’s top job.
Blatter, who had a heated exchange with presidential rival Issa Hayatou of Cameroon at the end of the ill-tempered meeting, chaired the congress after FIFA general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen refused to take part.
The congress, called by Blatter himself and held just three days from the start of the World Cup, debated FIFA’s finances but no decisions were taken as it had only been planned as a talking shop.
“They (the delegates) have only seen the one view. The accounting, as it is presented, disguises the real financial position of FIFA,” a clearly frustrated FIFA vice-president, David Will, commented.
“I was not permitted to give a balanced opposite view that everything is not sweetness and light. We have serious financial problems and nobody seems to be facing up to it,” the Scottish chairman of a special committee which is investigating the body’s finances added.
At the end of his confrontation with Blatter, Cameroon’s Hayatou refused to talk with reporters and stormed out of the conference room area, clearly angered by the debate during which some delegates blew whistles to express their frustration.
UEFA president Lennart Johansson, defeated by Blatter in the last presidency election in 1998 and a leading opponent of FIFA’s 66-year-old president, raised eyebrows at the atmosphere.
“I never heard it before at a FIFA congress,” he said. “I would never urge anyone to behave like this.”
The Swede is one of five FIFA vice-presidents, including Will and Hayatou, who have started a legal process against Blatter for alleged “misuse of funds”.
“There were not really any practical questions. It was a show. We have to stay a bit more calm (in tomorrow’s congress and election). Because what we had today, that wasn’t good,” he said.
“We should have discussed the finances. There were only 2-3 questions about finances.”
Blatter defended his actions by saying it had been impossible to let everybody speak but he did not step in to reduce long speeches from some of the delegates.
“If there are more than 30 applications to speak in less than two hours, it is impossible to give the floor to everybody,” he said, acknowledging that FIFA was badly split.
But he was confident he could win Wednesday’s vote, at which he is still firm favourite to be elected for a second four-year term.
“We have seen in the executive committee that FIFA is split and it will be like that until the election takes place,” he said. “There were whistles in the congress and I had to say: ‘Gentlemen, we are not in the field of play’.”
Zen-Ruffinen, who has been vehemently opposed to the way Blatter has run the organisation, said he would not run the congress because he had not approved the financial report presented to delegates.
Asked about the meeting, he said: “It was sad and terrible, but I am not surprised. I did not expect anything else.
“We see a spectacle like that in front of the media. What sort of example is it of the ‘football family’ — which only exists on paper? It is very, very sad,” he added.
“The presentation of the figures was not right. FIFA is basically in good shape financially. We have money. But it is not as good as it is being presented.”
Despite the recriminations, Blatter remained upbeat.
“I am confident that tranquility and unity in FIFA can be restored, especially after next Friday evening, when we will speak about football,” he said.—Reuters