FRANKFURT. Joseph Blatter is fighting back: As became known on Monday, the president of soccer's international governing body FIFA, has sent a 33-page "letter of clarification" to all of the organization's 204 national member associations, countering allegations of corruption and several other charges.
 

The letter, postmarked Zurich, was in direct response to a 21-page dossier compiled by Michel Zen-Ruffinen, FIFA's general secretary, who has fallen out of favor with Blatter. And as if that were not enough, Blatter has also filed a libel suit against his main critic at a Zurich court.
 

In his dossier, Zen-Ruffinen accused the FIFA president of corruption, fraud, nepotism, abuse of his position and financial mismanagement. "Anyone making accusations he cannot substantiate, must go to prison," said Blatter in Auckland, New Zealand. The letter is also a direct response to the case brought against Blatter by five FIFA vice presidents and six other members of the executive committee, based on Zen-Ruffinen's statements.
 

Blatter's letter, in which he declares himself the winner by a knockout decision, is a point-by-point attempt to counterattack his chief adversary in the FIFA administration. Swiss-born Blatter renounced the actions of his adversaries, calling them a "smear campaign" that was "bizarre, incomprehensible and unique" and that would "cause great damage to soccer." The "unsubstantiated" allegations brought against him would recoil on the initiators, in particular Zen-Ruffinen.
 

In an appeal to be confirmed as FIFA president on May 29, Blatter summarizes the situation from his point of view: "At the moment the FIFA house is burning. Once you have read these documents you will see who struck the match." In a radio interview, Zen-Ruffinen responded immediately, saying: "If Blatter did not want to start a fire, then he should have avoided spreading fuel everywhere."
 

Meanwhile, the first rifts between Blatter supporters and Blatter skeptics have begun to emerge among Germany's top soccer officials. Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, president of the German Soccer Federation, still seems wildly determined to reelect the incumbent president, although he is cautious about voicing the courage of his convictions too loudly. But in a statement made on Saturday in Leverkusen, Werner Hackmann, the president of the Bundesliga, voiced a different opinion: "The entire debate is not only causing damage to German soccer, but to soccer in general. I would welcome the possibility of voting for neither of the candidates currently up for election."
 

Blatter's main rival for the FIFA presidency is Issa Hayatou, president of the African Soccer Federation.
 

Just like Blatter, the man from Cameroon is said to have a stained reputation based on his tendency to attract "false friends." That, said observers, explains why Hackmann called the decision between Blatter and Hayatou a "decision between pest and cholera."
 

Mayer-Vorfelder, who learned of the statements by his colleague on the DFB presidium following Germany's exhibition game against Austria on Saturday, has decided, if necessary, to let the DFB presidium vote on a recommendation that he could take to the election in South Korea.
 

Last Friday, Lennart Johansson, president of UEFA, soccer's governing body in Europe, exerted pressure on Mayer-Vorfelder to vote against Blatter. But Johansson finds himself facing more than one deviationist in the phalanx of Blatter adversaries, as the French, Italians and Spaniards are also determined to vote for Blatter. In an attempt to sway the views of these powerful national soccer federations in time for the election, Johansson has threatened to ask for a vote of confidence within UEFA and withdraw from the FIFA executive committee should Blatter be reelected.
 

The question remains whether Johansson's attempt at intimidation will be successful. Blatter's written "clarification" follows an attempt last week to go on the offensive when he spoke to the press. At the time, he accused Zen-Ruffinen, also from Switzerland, of ignorance in business matters and of making a host of malicious and untrue accusations that were not corroborated by facts. He went on to say that Zen-Ruffinen had "inadequate knowledge and skills as well as a lack of interest in financial matters."
 

Zen-Ruffinen has claimed that the damages caused to FIFA by the financial collapse of the marketing partner ISL/ISMM were far higher than the 51 million Swiss Francs ($32 million) recently certified. Blatter accuses Zen-Ruffinen of being "incapable of correctly assessing FIFA's financial situation."
May 20, 2002