Sepp Blatter Resigns - What Next for FIFA?

The last 24 hours have brought surprising news of resignation and reassignment from two very different corners of the world. ~~~~~ FIFA President Sepp Blatter tossed a grenade into football's collective lap this morning when he said he will resign as FIFA president. Blatter said he will stay on until new elections are held -- between December and March next year. His shock announcement came as the FIFA corruption scandal continues to grow. The 79-year-old Blatter was re-elected to a fifth term on Friday, two days after the persistent rumors of corruption at the heart of FIFA exploded into crisis when seven officials were arrested in Zurich ahead of the FIFA congress. In explaning his bombshell of a decision this morning, Blatter said : "This mandate does not seem to be supported by everybody in the world of arranged news conferences. FIFA needs a profound restructuring. For years, we have worked hard to put in place administrative reforms, but it is plain to me that while these must continue, they are not enough....I will continue to exercise my function [until the new election]," said Blatter, whose serious demeanor could not have been more different from his ebullience on Friday when he vowed to lead the FIFA reform.Blatter said he reached the decision after he had "thoroughly considered my presidency and...the last 40 years in my life." There has been a tremendous amount of conjecture today by sports journalists and analysts, who were blindsided by Blatter's move. Explanations range from a sudden awakening by Blatter to the fact that his continuing 'business as usual' presence will make reform difficult - to pressure being applied by major FIFA sponsors to force Blatter out - to the awareness that the Swiss and American criminal investigations will eventually touch him. ~~~~~ This last guess is based on the facts and surmises swirlng around a $10 million payment made by Sourh Africa to FIFA before the 2010 World Cup. Today, a FIFA spokeswoman acknowledged that in 2008 the late Argentine Football Association (AFA) chief Julio Humberto Grondona okayed the transfer of $10 million paid by South African authorities to secure the right to host the 2010 World Cup. While US prosecutors claim the payment was part of a bribery scheme, South Africans insist that it was part a legitimate payment. The revelation, first reported by the New York Times yesterday, and repeated by Argentine media today, seems to put Blatter closer to the money trail being followed by the US Department of Justice. Grondona, who died in July, was the czar of Argentine football since 1979, when he was appointed to head the AFA. In 1988, Grondona was elected as a FIFA vice-president and chair of the Finance Committee. Under the indictment issued by US Attorney General Loretta Lynch last week, Grondona is considered by many to be the unnamed “co-conspirator No.10” though his name was not mentioned in the indictment. According to the US investigators, an Argentine businessman reportedly helped the former AFA head receive the payments through a travel agency, whose name is also not mentioned in the indictment. But, Grondona was named by FIFA spokeswoman Delia Fischer as the one who authorized the $10 million payment. “It was executed in accordance with the organization regulations,” she said in an attempt to clear the name of Blatter’s lieutenant, Secretary General Jérome Valcke. If Valcke actually played an important role in the transfer, then the assumption would be that investigators believe that Blatter could not be unaware of the move. According to the New York Times, Valcke could be the unidentified “high-ranking FIFA official” whom US prosecutors believe transferred $10 million in 2008 from FIFA to accounts controlled by FIFA vice president Jack Warner, who is accused of taking a bribe in exchange for helping South Africa secure the right to host the 2010 World Cup. Valcke was not named as a co-conspirator in the indictment and whether he knew the money was being used as a bribe would have to be proved. Valcke has said he did not okay the payment because he didn't have the power to do so. The head of South Africa’s World Cup bid and the current president of its football federation, Danny Jordaan, dismissed the allegations that the money was a bribe, saying that it was a legitimate payment sent to the accounts of Concacaf, a FIFA entity that oversees soccer in North and Centra America. Warner was the head of the Concacaf then and US prosecutors believe he has taken much of the $10 million for his personal use. ~~~~~ Domenico Scala, chairman of FIFA's audit and compliance committee, said following the news conference : "By making this announcement, he has created an opportunity for us to go further than FIFA has before -- to fundamentally change the way in which FIFA is structured." The news of Blatter's resignation came as the office of the Swiss attorney general said Blatter is not under investigation by Swiss authorities. "Joseph S. Blatter is not under investigation by the OAG. His announced resignation will have no influence on the ongoing criminal proceedings,'' the attorney general said in a statement. Three days earlier, Blatter was defiant and combative when fending off questions about FIFA's battered reputation and the chance US federal agencies could seek his arrest. ~~~~~ Compared to the unfolding FIFA scandal that has led to Sepp Blatter's resignation, the 'reassignment' of TSA acting administrator Melvin Carraway may seem like small potatoes. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johbson said TSA Administrator Carraway had been sent to work in the department's Office of State and Local Law Enforcement. Acting Deputy Director Mark Hatfield wil take over the TSA until a new acting administrator is appointed. President Obama has nominated Coast Guard Vice Admiral Pete Neffenger to head the TSA. Neffenger is awaiting Senate confirmation. Homeland Security officials confirmed to the media on Monday that TSA screeners had failed 67 out of 70 tests -- 96% -- carried out by special Department of Homeland Security investigators known as "red teams," as part of a DHS inspector general review. This will certainly lead to a review of TSA search and security procedures and a revision of them to better accomplish TSA's goal of making US air travel terrorist-free. ~~~~~ Dear readers, there is a Chinese proverb that says "Good luck seldom comes in pairs but bad things never walk alone." If this is so -- or as Westerners might say bad luck comes in three's -- then we have one more resignation or reshuffling to come. I cannot help but think it will be related to the FIFA scandal and not the TSA security failures. It is hard to imagine what could be more astounding than Sepp Blatter's resignation today. But, the Swiss justice department is investigating allegations of bribery relating to the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar. If rumors again turn into fact, then we may see both World Cups withdrawn and re-awarded. And there is also FIFA itself -- perhaps the corruption runs so deep in the organization that it will eventually be collapsed and an entirely new world football service entity created.