Day -945. WorldCup2018.
Things are really beginning to happen at Fifa, the kind of serious business that may finally put an end to Sepp Blatter's aura of an untouchable. It was an aura that was largely self-manifested, but also supported by the many national association presidents who saw good, mostly monetary, reasons to feed this perception. Of course they may argue that Blatter's intentions were noble, that he did it all for the development of football around the world, mostly in countries that would not have had the necessary funds otherwise to build stadiums and provide programmes for coaches and young players. That these Fifa funds ended up going to questionable projects (allegedly) in certain countries run by political leaders who were also accused of similarly misplacing money meant for the good of the country added to the unfortunate network of support for Blatter.
Today, the investigatory arm of Fifa's Ethics Committee announced that it has finished investigations into Michel Platini's "disloyal payment" to Blatter. The results of these investigations, and recommended sanctions, are now passed on to the adjudicatory arm of the committee. Both men will be summoned to appear before the Ethics Committee shortly and will be "notified of the case against them and the proposed sanctions." (The Guardian) They will have a chance to plead their case in a personal hearing before a decision is made on whether the sanctions are implemented. It seems very likely that the committee has recommended a ban of several years.
Blatter has been defending serious accusations for a number of years. Over the last couple of years there were many officials involved in football, mainly in Europe, who argued that his constant defence and denial of these claims was hurting not only the image of football but was also hampering any chance of a thorough investigation. Platini, previously a supporter of Blatter, became a vocal critic in the last year. Perhaps this was a preemptive attempt at claiming the higher moral ground, in the knowledge that in a year where nobody seemed safe from investigations once the US Attorney General and FBI got involved, his time was definitely coming.
There are many who still remember Platini as a footballing hero, a player who single-handedly won the European Championships for France in 1984, who was part of France's great teams, twice World Cup semi-finalists, of the 1980s. He was a true footballing great, a pleasure to watch and a master of his sport. This continued for a while into his new life as an administrator, credited with making football a massive commercial success in Europe. The Champions League, while derided by some purists for it's saturation of football on TV with sometimes meaningless matches and the virtual elimination of the David vs Goliath match-ups, brought huge wealth to Europe's top clubs through TV rights and sponsorships. Maybe this desire to make football in Europe bigger than anywhere else in the world was the beginning of his downfall. Next year's Finals will have 24 teams. Was this an attempt to rival the World Cup, in terms of stature as the world's premier football tournament, and in revenues from TV. Maybe UEFA, under Platini, got too big and the dollars and euros signs too hard for him to ignore.
There are an endless number of highlights out there to watch, showing the art and beauty of Platini, the footballer. With the image of football amongst fans and non-football fans being perceived as tainted by corruption, sadly the future memories associated with Platini may be "disloyal payment" and "banned from football for 7 years".
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/nov/21/fifa-ethics-committee-asks-for-sanctions-against-sepp-blatter-and-michel-platini
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