FIFA's saga of corruption doesn't seem to be near its end, and today Sepp Blatter, suspended as football's governing body president, added fuel to the fire by revealing Michel Platini should be blamed for the current crisis FIFA is experiencing. Blatter even stated during an interview that the former footballer was involved in all the investigations that ended up with his 90-day ban.
"When everything started, I was the one they blamed. And everything was orchestrated by Michel Platini. It's personal. Mr Platini was infected by a virus that seems to have its effect only on UEFA members, and that virus should be called 'Anti-FIFA,'. He always wanted to become president of FIFA, but he lacked the guts to present his candidacy in 2015,"Blatter stated.
Blatter even revealed that, if there's someone to be blamed for the current crisis, that person should be Platini, since the global organization had already agreed that the 2018 and the 2022 World Cups would be put together by the world's biggest political powers, but Platini's friends messed up with that decision.
"For the World Cups it was agreed that we go to Russia because it's never been in Russia, and for 2022 we go back to America. Everything was good until the moment when French president Nicolas Sarkozy came in a meeting with the crown prince of Qatar, who is now the ruler of Qatar. Afterwards, Mr Platini said it would be good to go to Qatar. And this has changed all pattern,"the Swiss added.
Blatter and Platini were "close friends" until the Frenchman decided not to invite Blatter to the opening ceremony of the Euro 2008.
Blatter even explained how things turned badly for FIFA once the United States were denied from the 2022 World Cup bid.
"There was an election by secret ballot. Four votes from Europe went away from the USA and so the result was 14 to eight. If you put the four votes, it would have been 12 to 10. If the USA was given the World Cup, we would only speak about the wonderful World Cup 2018 in Russia and we would not speak about any problems at FIFA," Blatter concluded.
A new FIFA president will be elected on February 26,2016, ending Blatter's 17-year stint as football's top executive.
