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FIFA 'facing £215m
crisis'
By Martyn Ziegler
ESPN Soccernet: Monday, May 27, 2002
FIFA
have lost £215million over the last four years and are facing financial
disaster, it has been claimed.
Scotland's FIFA vice-president David Will made the revelation about the losses in a letter to all national associations today, 24 hours before an extraordinary congress of football's world governing body.
The findings have caused several senior FIFA members to issue warnings of a looming financial catastrophe. Lennart Johansson, UEFA president and a FIFA vice-president, said: 'FIFA is in crisis both financially and organisationally. 'The whole integrity and credibility is in bad shape and they need to be restored. The finances are in a mess and FIFA's president has taken FIFA to the brink of disaster.'
Will was appointed the head of an investigation team to look into FIFA's finances only for the audit committee to be suspended by president Sepp Blatter.
Blatter is standing for re-election against Cameroon's Issa Hayatou on Wednesday, and his opponents claim the suspension was an attempt to gag the investigators.
In his letter Will says FIFA borrowed #313million secured against income expected from the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and then used the money to claim they were in profit. He wrote: 'Actually, we made a loss in of 572million Swiss Francs (#235million) from 1999 to 2001... and for 1999/2002 the true net loss for the four years is 470million Swiss francs (#215million). 'You should understand that a company in Switzerland which finds itself with such negative equity, ie when liabilities exceed the assets, is legally bound to go to court and declare itself insolvent. 'Also, given that the income for this next period is partly used already it becomes possible that the scale of financial support to the national associations could well be in jeopardy
Blatter's unbelievable response, saved english pdf. He blames everyone but himself.
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FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter responded today to the latest accusations made against his person by five FIFA Vice Presidents in the form of an open letter to the national associations.
"It was with great surprise that I discovered that, just days before the presidential election, FIFA Vice-President David Will had written an open letter to the national associations, casting doubt on the FIFA financial report, and misrepresenting and sensationalising the future of FIFA’s finances in a purely subjective manner." stated Mr. Blatter in a letter addressed to the FIFA national associations. "In doing so, David Will has compromised both the Finance Committee and the Executive Committee."
Editors comment: What this means is that all of the Associations backing Blatter have more than likely been bribed with money they were due to receive from the normal support channels. No wonder Zen-Ruffinen was upset. I am glad David Will has seen the light for the British Isles, and this should stop people voting for Blatter just because they said they would. Note that Blatter has a history of agreeing with the last person he has spoken to. It's all in the records. I don't condone what he has done, and how bureaucracy has spoiled the game down to the lowest levels of recreational play.
