* Sponsors Coca-Cola and Adidas wary of game’s tarnished image
* Calls for reform heard worldwide
* FIFA’s Blatter defiant: “no crisis” in soccer
By Ossian Shine
SINGAPORE, May 31 (Reuters) - Two heavyweight sponsors turned up the heat on FIFA over a deepening corruption scandal while the world soccer body’s president, Sepp Blatter, refused to accept the game was in crisis.
Coca-Cola said the allegations of corruption were “distressing and bad for the sport”. German sportswear maker Adidasalso said the controversy had hurt soccer.
A combative Blatter read from an entirely different script at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters on Monday.
“Football is not in a crisis. Football is in some difficulties and they will be resolved inside our family,” he said to disbelieving journalists.
That approach may founder as disquiet grows among sponsors and politicians, as well as fans worldwide, even though Blatter should be re-elected FIFA president on Wednesday for a fourth term.
Allegations of cash-for-votes in both the FIFA presidency campaign and the World Cup bidding process have left FIFA reeling. Alliances have been blown apart as senior FIFA officials have pointed the finger at one another.
In the space of a few days, Qatar has been tainted by suggestions it bought the 2022 World Cup; the head of Asian soccer Mohamed Bin Hammam and the head of the CONCACAF region Jack Warner have been suspended over bribery allegations; and Bin Hammam withdrew from Wednesday’s FIFA presidential race, leaving Blatter to run unopposed.
FIFA MELTDOWN
Qatar has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke quickly rowed back from comments he made about Qatar that hinted its bid was corrupt—leaked by an angry Warner and contained in a private email Valcke had sent him—but it only added to a sense of meltdown in global soccer’s corridors of power.
Coca-Cola and Adidas both expressed concern. The two companies are longtime partners with FIFA, providing money, goods and services to support its events worldwide—most notably the World Cup—in return for global brand recognition.
“The current allegations being raised are distressing and bad for the sport,” Coca-Cola spokesman Petro Kacur said in an email to Reuters.
“We have every expectation that FIFA will resolve this situation in an expedient and thorough manner.”
A spokesman for Adidas said: “The negative tonality of the public debate surrounding FIFA is neither good for football nor for FIFA and its partners.”
The spokesman said Adidas planned to continue its partnership with FIFA, which stretches back more than 30 years.
Blatter, a 75-year-old Swiss, has run soccer’s world governing body since 1998 and seen it grow wealthy on the sale of TV rights and sponsorship.
“BLEEDING PROFUSELY”
Bin Hammam and Warner—president of the North, Central American and Caribbean Confederation—were both provisionally suspended over an allegation Bin Hammam paid Caribbean delegates $40,000 to vote for him instead of Blatter.
Both men deny any wrongdoing, with Warner dismissing the FIFA ethics committee hearing as a “kangaroo court” and Bin Hammam appealing the suspension.
The in-fighting and proliferation of accusations has triggered a chorus of criticism.
Brazil’s 1970 World Cup winning captain Carlos Alberto Torres led calls from the World Cup’s most successful soccer nation. “There should be a general change, there are so many good people who could take office,” Carlos Alberto told Reuters.
“I think there should be new people in command of the bodies,” he said in a telephone interview. “With the same people staying (in power) so long there is a vicious circle.”
British sports minister Hugh Robertson said FIFA should bow to growing international pressure.
“Even if you consider that FIFA lives in an ivory tower you could not help but notice the clamour around the world for change at the moment,” he said.
Australian senator Nick Xenophon likened Blatter’s denial of a crisis to a Monty Python comedy sketch.
“Sepp looked completely in denial … FIFA hasn’t just received a ‘flesh wound’. It’s on the ground bleeding profusely.”
* Calls for reform heard worldwide
* FIFA’s Blatter defiant: “no crisis” in soccer
By Ossian Shine
SINGAPORE, May 31 (Reuters) - Two heavyweight sponsors turned up the heat on FIFA over a deepening corruption scandal while the world soccer body’s president, Sepp Blatter, refused to accept the game was in crisis.
Coca-Cola said the allegations of corruption were “distressing and bad for the sport”. German sportswear maker Adidas
A combative Blatter read from an entirely different script at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters on Monday.
“Football is not in a crisis. Football is in some difficulties and they will be resolved inside our family,” he said to disbelieving journalists.
That approach may founder as disquiet grows among sponsors and politicians, as well as fans worldwide, even though Blatter should be re-elected FIFA president on Wednesday for a fourth term.
Allegations of cash-for-votes in both the FIFA presidency campaign and the World Cup bidding process have left FIFA reeling. Alliances have been blown apart as senior FIFA officials have pointed the finger at one another.
In the space of a few days, Qatar has been tainted by suggestions it bought the 2022 World Cup; the head of Asian soccer Mohamed Bin Hammam and the head of the CONCACAF region Jack Warner have been suspended over bribery allegations; and Bin Hammam withdrew from Wednesday’s FIFA presidential race, leaving Blatter to run unopposed.
FIFA MELTDOWN
Qatar has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke quickly rowed back from comments he made about Qatar that hinted its bid was corrupt—leaked by an angry Warner and contained in a private email Valcke had sent him—but it only added to a sense of meltdown in global soccer’s corridors of power.
Coca-Cola and Adidas both expressed concern. The two companies are longtime partners with FIFA, providing money, goods and services to support its events worldwide—most notably the World Cup—in return for global brand recognition.
“The current allegations being raised are distressing and bad for the sport,” Coca-Cola spokesman Petro Kacur said in an email to Reuters.
“We have every expectation that FIFA will resolve this situation in an expedient and thorough manner.”
A spokesman for Adidas said: “The negative tonality of the public debate surrounding FIFA is neither good for football nor for FIFA and its partners.”
The spokesman said Adidas planned to continue its partnership with FIFA, which stretches back more than 30 years.
Blatter, a 75-year-old Swiss, has run soccer’s world governing body since 1998 and seen it grow wealthy on the sale of TV rights and sponsorship.
“BLEEDING PROFUSELY”
Bin Hammam and Warner—president of the North, Central American and Caribbean Confederation—were both provisionally suspended over an allegation Bin Hammam paid Caribbean delegates $40,000 to vote for him instead of Blatter.
Both men deny any wrongdoing, with Warner dismissing the FIFA ethics committee hearing as a “kangaroo court” and Bin Hammam appealing the suspension.
The in-fighting and proliferation of accusations has triggered a chorus of criticism.
Brazil’s 1970 World Cup winning captain Carlos Alberto Torres led calls from the World Cup’s most successful soccer nation. “There should be a general change, there are so many good people who could take office,” Carlos Alberto told Reuters.
“I think there should be new people in command of the bodies,” he said in a telephone interview. “With the same people staying (in power) so long there is a vicious circle.”
British sports minister Hugh Robertson said FIFA should bow to growing international pressure.
“Even if you consider that FIFA lives in an ivory tower you could not help but notice the clamour around the world for change at the moment,” he said.
Australian senator Nick Xenophon likened Blatter’s denial of a crisis to a Monty Python comedy sketch.
“Sepp looked completely in denial … FIFA hasn’t just received a ‘flesh wound’. It’s on the ground bleeding profusely.”
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