Life is never dull in the world of FIFA. With top sponsors finally coming out against outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter, and an on-going investigation by the Swiss authorities that included an eight-hour interrogation of Blatter himself, there aren’t many people left supporting the beleaguered football director. Still, Blatter has at least one person in his corner.
His daughter.
Corinne Blatter Andematten spoke with Swiss outlet Blick for Sunday’s edition of the publication and went in hard on the international media, blaming us for ruining her father’s reputation. From the Associated Press, via FoxSports.com:
”The media has ruined his reputation. Why are they picking on him? What did he do to them? I simply don’t know. It’s not just envy. It’s hatred.”
I will grant her this: it is hatred. The combination of abject mismanagement and criminal impropriety within FIFA have looked the other way at human rights violations across the globe, especially in Qatar where the Blatter-led organization voted to gift-wrap the 2022 World Cup.
This, from a May 2015 Washington Post article on Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers brought to the country to build stadia for the 2022 event.
Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers come to Qatar each year, and there could be hundreds of deaths even without a World Cup…
But the numbers could also be worse: a report by the International Trade Union Confederation has estimated 1,200 deaths in recent years. If current trends continue, the ITUC estimates that 4,000 workers will die in Qatar by the time the World Cup is actually held in 2022.
Those deaths are on Blatter’s hands, and yet he continues to hide behind the fact that he didn’t vote for Qatar, putting the owness on the FIFA executive committee that controls such decisions, rather than himself.
Blatter has done whatever he wants for years, and he answers to no one—case in point with repeated calls for his resignation—until he needs to hide behind policy; policy he put in place to protect his power for decades.
Blatter Andenmatten told Blick she was worried the Swiss authorities would take her father away in handcuffs—though she is not concerned about the United States government arresting him because, “he’s not even in the USA,” while stating how shocked she is that he has been accused (by the media, if not yet by law enforcement) of being a criminal.
”I cannot believe that he’d have to go to jail,” she added. ”I’m shocked that he’s accused of criminal acts. My father is not a criminal. He’d give away his last shirt. He doesn’t enrich himself.”
The Blick interview, done by Andreas Boni and Peter Hossli, quotes Blatter Andenmatten as saying money is not important to her father, and that it’s only, “for security for his family.” This, translated through Google:
He has a lot [of money]. What does he do [with] it?
He buys shoes and travel bags. He has worked 40 years. His life is modest, without any extravagance.
When pressed about an expensive apartment Blatter has in the Swiss mountains, his daughter claimed it is owned by FIFA, and he pays rent on it, but he does own two other properties. Where else would he keep all the shoes?
Why does not he reveal how much he earns as Fifa president?
Why should he do it? In Switzerland, no one says how much he earns. Why should the FIFA President do it? They also do not say how much you earn.
In Switzerland it is not customary to disclose one’s salary like it often is for public figures in the United States and other countries around the world. Blatter is the head of the largest sports conglomerate in the world, and while housing FIFA offices in Switzerland has an enormous number of benefits for both Blatter and FIFA itself, someone in his position should not be afforded the cloak of local customs when asked to disclose his salary.
From an AP story in July, FIFA refuses to post the salaries of any of its executive committee members. Needless to say, though, it’s a lot.
Governed by Swiss law, FIFA’s public accounts lack such detail. They say $39.7 million was paid to “key management personnel” in 2014. That included Blatter and the 24 other members of his executive committee, plus 12 executives at FIFA headquarters. If evenly split between all 37 people, that would be $1 million each. FIFA says the total includes gross salary and social charges but won’t break down who got what or even answer questions about why it fails to do so.
Those figures do not include expenses or travel, mind you, as FIFA spent nearly $36 million on “meetings” in 2014, which included travel and hotel accommodations in Brazil for members of the 209 associations that make up FIFA. That comes out to $172,248.80 per delegation, which even given the prices of hotels in Brazil seems a tad high.
The amount disclosed by FIFA also fails to account for whatever discretionary funds Blatter controls, like the one he must have pulled $2 million out of to give to Michel Platini four years ago for work the UEFA boss reportedly did half a decade earlier.
So, yes, blame the media.
Remember, though, your father is excited to become a member of this group again. Blatter said when he retires he’s going to have a radio show talking about geopolitics. Blatter Andenmatten even told Blick her father will undoubtedly write a memoir after he finally retires from FIFA.
“Eventually his memoirs will appear. I told him to write a thriller, which (will be) a bestseller.”
Let’s hope it is a bestseller, so someone can turn it into a movie. Because we all know the life and times of Sepp Blatter’s FIFA has blockbuster written all over it.
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