The day soccer voted for sleaze and Zen-Ruffinen to be ejected
By Andrew Jennings in Seoul

Thursday, May 30, 2002

The majority of FIFA's 600 delegates sat with fingers in their ears as they were warned again that soccer's finances are in crisis, its image tawdry and future uncertain.

They then rewarded the man who created the mess with a landslide presidential victory. Even Sepp Blatter's backers seemed surprised when he conquered his opponent Issa Hayatou by a stunning 139 votes to 56.

Relieved after presiding over the most embarrassing and turbulent three days in FIFA's 98-year history, Blatter had the brass neck to proclaim that his mission was to restore harmony and confidence and regain credibility in the outside world.

And in a sideswipe at European media which have been disclosing corruption, vote-rigging and unauthorised use of FIFA's funds, Blatter claimed that the size of his victory meant the media must stop investigating him.

Blatter began the day with a built-in lead. Of the 202 federations in the Hilton's conference hall, 117 were beneficiaries of the £275,000-a-time GOAL programme which the president has projected as his personal funds, distributed at his whim to his friends.

As in the election of 1998 that put Blatter in power, Africa was the swing continent. How could Hayatou, African soccer's president, be undermined on his own turf? Blatter's wealthy Arab backers, accused of paying bribes four years ago, were again in evidence. Where they did not operate, Libya did. Colonel Gaddafi's son casually promised £135,000 to 20 national associations and the rot was setting in.

In the end it came down to personalities, not issues. The charming, sometimes gracious, Blatter was never seriously troubled by the Hayatou campaign which was sometimes so low-profile as to be subterranean. Hayatou said the right things about the need for transparency but was a lacklustre candidate. While Blatter toured the world, especially Africa, remorselessly opening new offices out of GOAL funds, Hayatou's managers never sent him to London and in Miami he was snubbed by the tricky Jack Warner when he attended the Caribbean and North American congress.

In truth, the campaign was won in the mid-Nineties, when Blatter, then general-secretary, took the decision with former president Joao Havelange to sell World Cup TV rights at the highest prices a fevered market would pay. They created a war chest that has been near exhausted by costly development programmes to keep Blatter popular. Blatter's problem in his second term is that, having raised expectations through genteel bribery, he cannot stop. Hence the mortgaging of 2006 World Cup marketing rights to fund promises.

The final day of Blatter's first term was edgy as the clock ticked towards the vote. At first it seemed that democracy still existed at FIFA. On Tuesday Blatter's clumsy banning of dissident voices from the podium shocked even his supporters. So Scotland's vice-president David Will, chairman of the internal audit committee set up to probe allegations of financial chicanery, a body since suspended by Blatter, was finally permitted to speak. Will said: 'Yesterday you were told all was sweetness and light but we've become increasingly concerned since our consultant accountant told us FIFA is spending future earnings just to survive. The figures you've been given disguise the truth.' Looking pointedly at Blatter, Will concluded: 'Someone must take an iron grip on FIFA expenses. I fear it's not happening.'

Blatter then called one of his closest allies, America's Chuck Blazer, who said: 'I have a hard time understanding what Will is talking about.' The other hero of the podium was the English FA's chief executive Adam Crozier. He warned: 'The situation will get worse. Budgets are unrealistic. TV revenues won't hold up.' Then he defiantly demanded a hearing for FIFA general-secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen, who produced a damning report on Blatter's excesses three weeks ago and was subsequently banned from financial matters. Blatter refused. Zen-Ruffinen then strode to the podium and the president subsided, sulking. The general-secretary reiterated his main argument: that Blatter has made unauthorised secret payments from FIFA funds. When Blatter ally Urs Linsi, FIFA's finance director, was challenged about the finances, he could only state, lamely: 'I have a very good feeling about TV revenues for 2006.'

A jubilant Blatter addressed reporters later in near mystical terms. 'Football is the people's game,' he said, 'the people cannot lie and today they told the truth.' Yesterday Blatter and his group of highly-paid officials were ecstatic. But he still faces possible criminal charges in Zurich for misappropriation of funds. And a rival might easily dethrone him. Waiting restlessly in the wings is Franz 'The Kaiser' Beckenbauer.' If FIFA's finances slump he will be well-placed to challenge. And where better for a charismatic hero, now chairman of the 2006 organising committee, to bid but in front of his adoring German public at the next presidential congress in four years, on the eve of that championship.

Blatter set to dump Zen-Ruffinen

ZURICH, May 30 (Reuters) - Re-elected FIFA President Sepp Blatter wants General Secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen gone quickly after his former ally openly critisised Blatter for mismanagement of football's world body.

Issa Hayatou, president of the African Football Confederation (CAF), got 56 votes.