Blatter Cleared by Prosecutors
Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, the president of FIFA, was cleared of financial mismanagement accusations Wednesday when public prosecutors in Zurich, Switzerland, closed their investigation and heaped scorn on those who had filed the complaints almost seven months ago.
“The complainants ... had accused Joseph Blatter of actions which they themselves had collectively approved,” the prosecutor’s office said in a prepared statement.
“In this regard, the complaint was not only reprehensible, which is self-evident under the given circumstances, but also bordering on false accusation.”
The complaint was filed on May 13 by 11 members of FIFA’s 24-man executive committee and was based in part on a report by FIFA’s then-general secretary, Michael Zen-Ruffinen, who claimed that Blatter had made unauthorized payments and had covered up the extent of financial losses suffered in the collapse of FIFA’s marketing partner.
Blatter contended that the charges were part of an election campaign aimed at ousting him as president of world soccer’s governing body. He was subsequently elected to a second four-year term.
“I hope, for the good of the game and all those who love and serve it, that we will never again see such a campaign, which was unjust and based purely upon slander and groundless complaints,” he said.
“The whole matter has been a dirty game that has caused unnecessary and untold damage to the image of football, the game’s world governing body and not least that of its president.”
U.S.-Canada Set
The U.S. men’s national team will open its 2003 season against Canada in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Jan. 18, U.S. Soccer announced.
Donovan Decision
Officials at Bayer Leverkusen said they will make a decision next week on whether to recall U.S. World Cup forward Landon Donovan, who has played on loan for the last two seasons with Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes.
Donovan, 20, is under contract with Leverkusen until 2007 and the German Bundesliga club has the option of bringing him back into its fold, selling him to another team or extending the loan agreement with MLS.
“The final decision on his future will come next week,” said Ilja Kaenzig, Leverkusen’s financial manager. “We are in good talks with the MLS. We are going to find a solution that everyone can live with.”
Sukur Signs
Free-agent Turkish World Cup striker Hakan Sukur, who has scored 37 goals in 80 games for his national team, was signed by the Blackburn Rovers of the English Premier League.
The move reunited Sukur, 31, with Blackburn Coach Graeme Souness, his former coach at Galatasaray in the Turkish league, and also with U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who also played for Souness at Galatasaray.
Israel Security
Concerns over potential terrorist acts have prompted the Israeli soccer federation to announce that at least two and possibly all four of Israel’s “home” games in qualifying for the 2004 European Championship will be played in England.
Citing security reasons, UEFA, European soccer’s ruling body, had earlier barred Israel from hosting international matches and ordered the Israeli federation to select an alternate site for its games against Cyprus, France, Malta and Slovenia.
Gavri Levi, the federation chairman, said Israel had reached agreement to use the Vicarage Road ground of English first division team Watford. Israel will play there against European champion France on April 2 and Cyprus on April 30.
The site for the other two “home” matches has yet to be determined.
Meanwhile, both the Israeli federation and Italian police denied a report in Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper claiming that Italian authorities had foiled an alleged Al Qaeda plot to harm the Israeli team when it played Malta in Malta on Oct. 12.
Israel Coach Avraham Grant blasted the report, saying his country already finds it difficult to arrange matches.
“We are no longer sought after as opponents by other national teams,” he said. “Nobody is in any hurry to host us. I would go as far as to say that they really don’t want us. I expect that after the publication of this story it will be even worse.”
