By MARK PALMER
Monday, March 4, 2002 – Globe and Mail Page S7

Henry Kissinger once described soccer politics as more difficult to unravel than the Middle East conflict. Certainly it's a sphere of interest that's got all the ingredients for starting the bloodiest of battles, as powerful egos wage war with each other amid accusations of bribery, illicit deals and corruption. Normally, soccer's political cauldron implodes at least once every four years when elections to the top job appear over the horizon. Which is exactly where we are right now.

Sepp Blatter, FIFA's all-powerful president, is seeking re-election on May 29, two days before the curtain rises on the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. At this particular moment, there are no challengers to the crown but that could change on Thursday if Blatter refuses to allow an internal investigation into the messy finances of soccer's worldwide governing body.

Blatter, a former lawyer, PR man and journalist, was elected four years ago to head up the organization as the successor to Joao Havelange. At the time, Blatter's sworn enemy was the head of UEFA (which controls soccer in Europe), Lennart Johansson. Johansson was defeated by Batter in the FIFA election, 111 votes to 80.

Accusations of bribery have persisted since but it was only last week that the charges hit the proverbial fan when Farah Addo, vice-president of the African Football Confederation, claimed he was offered $100,000 (U.S.) to support Blatter in the last election. Addo said he was offered the bribe by a third party and turned it down. But he alleged that one of his colleagues, Mohiadin Hassan Ali, accepted the money to vote for Blatter on behalf of the Somalian Football Association.

There are other pressing accusations. Blatter stands charged with dipping into the 2006 World Cup budget to keep FIFA solvent and also of authorizing mass borrowing to make amends for the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner, ISL, which was declared bankrupt last May with debts estimated to be approximately $1.6-billion (U.S.). Blatter, who is Swiss, puts FIFA's losses at no more than $30-million (U.S.) and continues to dodge tackles in the best traditions of a world-class centre forward.

"We are in an election year and there are people who would like to destabilize the president by defamation. I won't answer questions on bribery allegations and financials," he said during a visit to Cyprus on the weekend, before accusing his opponents of being "poor losers."

But it is those same "poor losers" who have called an emergency meeting on Thursday of FIFA's 24-strong executive committee. If Blatter does not agree to open the books, there could be mutiny, since it is thought that 13 of the 24 are steeling for a fight.

Two potential candidates are waiting in the wings: Issa Hayatou, president of the Confederation of African Football; and South Korea's MoonJoon Chung. Hayatou has been flitting around the world in the past few weeks seeking support. During the African Cup of Nations, held in Mali in January, he broke off to visit Saudi Arabia and last month he turned up at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to discuss his campaign with Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee. Rogge is at the forefront of efforts to restore the reputation of the IOC, which has had its own corruption scandals.

Chung has long been an outspoken member of the FIFA executive. He said last week: "I don't want to be a part of crime, I want to be part of the solution." Hayatou, who appointed Addo, the man behind the bribery allegations, as his deputy, has huge support in Africa, despite Blatter's positive mutterings about wanting an African country to stage the 2010 World Cup.

In London, events unfold in the full knowledge that our own Football Association has nothing to be proud of. Last week, the FA's chief executive, David Davies, was quoted as giving his association's full support for an independent financial audit of FIFA's accounts. Yet it was the FA that suddenly switched its support four years ago from Johansson to Blatter when it thought that the latter was more likely to back England over Germany for the staging of the 2006 World Cup finals. Blatter won and the finals were awarded to Germany.

FIFA, meanwhile, is about to announce new measures to clean up the game. In particular, there is concern about players diving or pretending to be injured. Referees at the World Cup will be told to come down hard on the cheats. But with so many claims and counterclaims about cheating within the FIFA executive, it's becoming hard to take any new directive seriously. A little bit of internal housekeeping might be helpful before kickoff on May 31.
mark.palmer@dial.pipex.com