Nothing ever sticks to the Teflon president
Fifa chief Sepp Blatter is the consummate politician who has a knack for turning even the most damning scandal to advantage
Sepp Blatter is not a king. He is not a chancellor or a viceroy and he is, most assuredly, not a congressman or people's representative. Technically, Blatter is a president, the president of Fifa, soccer's global governing body. To use that label alone, though, is to sell short the dominating (if not domineering) stature with which Blatter rules. Think of it this way: how many people can arrive in virtually any country with a minimum of pomp or protocol and then request an audience with the head of state, and receive one?
Blatter can. (And he has. In the past few months he has met with the president of Cuba, the prime minister of Guinea and the president of South Africa.) Such is the influence of soccer around the globe. In more private moments, Blatter has likened Fifa to a sovereign nation. He may not be so far off: after all, Fifa has its own flag and anthem. And it has, in Blatter, an outspoken and commanding figurehead who has led it through periods of prosperity, and a fair bit of shame and scandal, too.
In nearly four decades with Fifa, however, Blatter has never overseen an issue as hotly debated as the one in front of him now. Last week in Zurich, Blatter presided over a meeting of Fifa's executive committee, which consists of 25 voting members who essentially make soccer's most important decisions. If Blatter has his way, one of the issues called for a vote will be whether to shift the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from its traditional summer schedule to the relative cool of the late autumn and winter in the Middle East.
People will say: 'Blatter's done a tremendous job of promoting the universality of the game, but. ...' And that 'but' is the controversy and allegations
Despite the large (and loud) group of soccer officials preaching pragmatism and patience before a potential move, Blatter, who declined to comment for this article, has made it clear that he believes a change in dates is necessary. Doing so will disrupt schedules around the world, but when Blatter states a preference, that has historically meant only one outcome is possible.
"Put it this way," said Alan Rothenberg, the former president of the United States Soccer Federation, who has known Blatter for more than 30 years. "In the mid-2000s, after the success of the '94 World Cup, I was asked by Morocco to help them win the bid for the 2010 World Cup."
Even though Blatter was publicly neutral, Rothenberg said, it was clear he was intrigued by South Africa as a potential host. "So I went to him beforehand and asked if it would bother him for me to do this, to work with Morocco," Rothenberg said. "He said, 'No, no, of course. Go ahead and do it'."
The night before the vote, after Morocco had made its final presentation, a confident Rothenberg said he thought, "We've got this locked up." Then he hesitated. "To this day I'm not sure what happened, but I suspect that Sepp was doing some things to make sure that people voted the way he wanted," Rothenberg said. Then he sighed. "I don't have to tell you what happened."