Sepp Blatter will reconsider resigning as FIFA president

Over one week ago, FIFA president Sepp Blatter resigned amid a corruption scandal that threatened his tenure as chief of international soccer.

You know how in thriller movies, the villain gives one more jump scare after the resolution has already happened? Like in Diamonds Are Forever when Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd ambush James Bond on the luxury cruise liner, and James Bond sets them on fire?

FIFA president

Nosferatu

Sepp Blatter had already resigned on June 2 after the U.S. Justice Department indicted FIFA officials over corruption charges, but it appears as though he has been inspired to return.

From Sports Illustrated:

"FIFA president Sepp Blatter is reconsidering his resignation, reports Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag.The paper cites an unnamed source close to Blatter—who announced he would resign on June 2 in the wake of the FIFA corruption scandal—as having “received messages of support from African and Asian football associations” asking him to reconsider stepping down."

Wonderful.

The exact African and Asian football organizations are unknown, but based on how support for Blatter has come in the form of smaller organizations, it’s unlikely that a high-end team like Ghana is behind this. They are anonymous likely because they are afraid of any pushback from the international soccer community.

It’s also no surprise that the support comes from African and Asian countries. Europe and South America formed the primary coalition to oust Blatter, and the idea that Blatter was inspired by shows of support from elsewhere just now is simply convenient timing.

If Blatter thinks that he can wait for the dust to clear before quietly returning to his post as FIFA president, he is mistaken. The outrage over Blatter’s translucent corruption, particularly when it concerned the 2022 Qatar World Cup that utilized de facto slave labor to assemble an infrastructure for the event, was massive already. Returning only a short time after resigning would expand the outrage even more.

FIFA official Domenico Scala, who is the chairman of the audit and compliance committees, released a statement via the Associated Press supporting maintaining the change of leadership in FIFA.

"“For me, the reforms are the central topic,” Scala said in the statement. “That is why I think it is clearly indispensable to follow through with the initiated process of leadership change as it has been announced.”"

This reeks as a last desperate attempt to maintain power by Blatter. In the long run it won’t work, but for now the organization is still in the clutches of Blatter.

[H/T: Sports Illustrated, Schweiz am Sonntag]