FIFA President Is at the Center of Court Battle
Some of international soccer’s most influential leaders will take Joseph “Sepp” Blatter to court in Switzerland this week, alleging “misuse of funds” by FIFA’s beleaguered president.
“Steps will be taken to prove what has taken place is illegal,” Lennart Johansson, the Swedish president of UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, said Wednesday. “Blatter caused this situation himself. We have no choice but to go to the Swiss legal authorities.
“Under Swiss law, you are obliged to go to court if you are aware of a criminal act. If you withhold that information, you can be charged yourself.”
Allegations that Blatter, 66, had mismanaged FIFA funds, made illegal payments and deceived executive committee members were made last week by Michael Zen-Ruffinen, FIFA’s general secretary, at an emergency meeting called after Blatter unilaterally blocked an internal audit of FIFA finances ordered by the executive committee.
“For me, it is a tragic situation,” Johansson said. “Something must be rotten when the president does his utmost to stop an investigation that was only internal and only for the executive committee. It can only mean one thing: There is something that is being hidden.”
Johansson, who lost to Blatter in the 1998 FIFA presidential election, said 11 of FIFA’s 24 executive committee members had agreed to take legal action against Blatter. Among them is Issa Hayatou of Cameroon, who is running against Blatter in the May 29 FIFA presidential election.
In Seoul, South Korea, meanwhile, Chung Mong Joon, a FIFA vice president, said Blatter had “overstepped his authority” and needed to answer for his actions.
“He has acted without the mandate of the FIFA executive committee, doling out personal favors at FIFA’s expense,” Chung said. “Such abuse of authority and misuse of FIFA funds may require criminal investigation.”
Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires, longtime Blatter supporter and FIFA Vice President Julio Grondona, president of the Argentine soccer federation, ridiculed Zen-Ruffinen’s allegations.
“Zen-Ruffinen isn’t fit to run a troop of boy scouts--no disrespect intended to boy scouts,” he said. “We debated the allegations of corruption for 11 hours last Friday, and we rejected the accusations.”
Wednesday’s action shows that FIFA executives did nothing of the sort.
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Feyenoord of the Netherlands salvaged some pride for Dutch fans Wednesday when it defeated German champion Borussia Dortmund, 3-2, in Rotterdam to win the UEFA Cup.
The Netherlands failed to qualify for the World Cup, but it was national team striker Pierre van Hooijdonk who sparked Feyenoord’s victory with two goals in a seven-minute span in the first half.
The game marked the final appearance of Dortmund defender Jurgen Kohler, who played 105 games for Germany, helping it win the World Cup in 1990. Kohler, 36, is retiring to become a youth coach with the German soccer federation.
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A goal by France’s Sylvain Wiltord earned Arsenal a 1-0 victory over Manchester United on Wednesday and clinched the English Premier League championship for the London club, which thus completed “the double” after earlier having won the English F.A. Cup.
The victory also made Arsenal the first club in more than a century--since Preston North End in the 1888-89 season--not to lose on the road for the entire league season. “The Gunners” were not shut out in any of their 38 league games, and Wednesday’s victory ended Manchester United’s string of three consecutive championships.
World Cup 2002
Italy Coach Giovanni Trapattoni did as expected Wednesday and left 1994 World Cup star Roberto Baggio off the roster he will take to Korea/Japan ‘02, seeking a fourth World Cup triumph.
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Costa Rica Coach Alexandre Guimaraes on Wednesday selected the 23 players he will take to the World Cup. Included on the roster are forwards Paolo Wanchope, sidelined since February after a knee operation but apparently fit again, and veteran Hernan Medford, who played on the Costa Rica team that reached the second round of the Italia ’90 World Cup.
