Europe should weigh World Cup boycott to oust FIFA’s Blatter — UK

LONDON/ZURICH — Britain said Europe should consider boycotting future World Cups if Sepp Blatter doesn’t quit as head of football’s governing body over a corruption scandal, while Swiss authorities denied they would soon question the newly re-elected FIFA president.

The Swiss-born FIFA chief complained on Sunday he had been shown “zero respect” in recent days, revealing how he had rejected advice from one of his main critics, the head of the European governing body, to quit at last week’s FIFA congress.

John Whittingdale, the British government minister with overall responsibility for sport, renewed calls for Blatter to step aside on Sunday, saying all options should be considered when it came to pressuring him to resign, including boycotting the World Cup — something that could split the sport and be calamitous for the tournament.

Blatter, 79, won a vote on Friday to serve a fifth term as FIFA president even though the US Department of Justice has charged nine football officials with corruption and Swiss authorities are conducting their own criminal investigation.

He has played down the impact of the scandal on one of the world’s most powerful sports bodies, which takes in billions of dollars in revenue from TV marketing rights and sponsorships.

Blatter is not accused of any wrongdoing personally and has implied that the United States timed news of the charges to try to scupper his re-election.

Asked how he had coped with the criticism in the past few days, he told the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick: “Let me put it this way: I’ve been shown zero respect.”

Blatter’s future could yet depend on the reaction of FIFA’s major sponsors and stakeholders such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, who have been dismayed by the arrests and US prosecutors announcing indictments of officials and companies.

Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper reported Swiss prosecutors would question Blatter, who has led FIFA for nearly 20 years, as part of a criminal investigation into votes to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.

A spokesperson for Switzerland’s attorney general dismissed the possibility of immediately calling in Blatter as “nonsense”.

However, he added: “If need be, he will be questioned in the future.”

Russia and Qatar deny wrongdoing in their bids.

The Sunday Times reported Blatter would be the last of 10 FIFA officials to be questioned. Michel Platini, the president of the European governing body UEFA, and Vitaly Mutko, the Russian sports minister, would also be interviewed, it said.

Britain stepped up the pressure on Sunday.

“Last week, some of the game’s most respected figures raised the prospect of world football turning its back on FIFA,” Whittingdale, who is Britain’s secretary of state for culture media and sport, wrote in the Sunday Times.

“Michel Platini has talked of European nations boycotting future World Cups if Blatter refuses to stand down. No options should be ruled out,” he said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Greg Dyke, the chairman of England’s Football Association, have urged Blatter to quit. 

Dyke said it would be “ridiculous” for England to boycott the next World Cup in 2018 in protest because it would not have an impact. “It’s got to be done by enough nations to have an impact, if it’s done,” Dyke told BBC TV’s Andrew Marr show.

“We’ve got to do it alongside other countries, other large footballing nations,” he said, saying it would be a “good idea” to pressure other footballing nations and sponsors to make sure any effort was concerted.