So Sepp Blatter has gone, or has he ?
Following the revelations of scandal at FIFA, it's President, Sepp Blatter, finally announced that he'd step down from his post as soon as a new President could be elected. However, he will remain in office until that time and will continue to oversee FIFA's activities and, no doubt, continue to obstruct investigations.
While this has to be good news of a sort, Blatter also made clear that organising a special conference to elect a new boss will take some time, many months in fact. It's perfectly possible that Blatter will still be in office as we approach Easter next year and, if he is, who is to say that he won't find some new way to hang on to power ? There are stories which suggest that he is now being investigated by the FBI and others, but nothing concrete has yet been revealed.
Information given to the investigating authorities has certainly indicated that FIFA has been corrupt for many years and, almost certainly, throughout Blatter's reign. It seems probable that the award of the 2010 tournament to South Africa was tainted and there remain strong suspicions that the 2018 award to Russia and 2022 award to Qatar are also debatable. One FIFA official has now said that either or both of these future tournaments could be cancelled and re-awarded if wrong-doing is proven.
But Blatter is still there, pulling the strings. By the time he is finally shown the door, he may well have been able to delay actions sufficiently at least to prevent any change in the 2018 tournament; as for 2022 in Qatar, that one may well be dead in the water, though only time will tell. Waiting in the wings is the English FA, champing at the bit and desperate to bring the tournament to the UK. Where will it all end ?
