Sepp Blatter current president of FIFA, faces another setback in his bid to remain the Commander-in-Chief of Football's highest governing body for a record of a fifth consecutive term. Just days after the organization was slammed by the US Justice Department with allegations of corruption, bribery, and money laundering, US Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati said he will not be backing Blatter in the next round of elections, scheduled this Friday.
Instead, Gulati will be backing Jordan's Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein, a former Vice President of FIFA in Asia and Blatter's sole opposition for the presidency. Gulati believes Prince Ali can unseat the Swiss born Blatter, who has been FIFA's top dog since 1998. Ali has vowed to clean up the sport, which has been marred with scandal under Blatter's reign.
There is a question of whether the elections will even push through as Michel Platini, head of European Football's governing body UEFA, has called for them to be postponed due to the scandal embroiling the organization.
The Justice Department's indictment against FIFA claims the organization, together with sports marketing firms, and TV broadcasters have been receiving bribes in exchange for exclusive contracts and other favors. Attorney General Loretta Lynch stated, "It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks."
Earlier this week Swiss law enforcement officials raided the Hotel Baur au Lac in Zurich and arrested six FIFA executives on corruption charges. While hours later in the United States, federal agents stormed the Miami headquarters of CONCACAF, football's governing body in North and Central America, to seize important documents which link the organization to FIFA's web of racketeering and bribery.
Blatter himself was not named in the indictment and is confident of his chances of remaining president.
