FIFA has become accustomed to operating in chaos. Sepp Blatter, its future ex-president, even seemed to take a certain pleasure in it. But the supreme institution of football is pushing the envelope to a distance previously difficult to imagine, even in the worst scenario. This week's episode takes place in the meeting room of the investigative chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee. Its members are expected to stay there until Friday October 9. And it is rumored, in the corridors of the organization's headquarters in Zurich, that their decision could cause a new earthquake.
Let's summarize. Meeting since Wednesday, the FIFA Ethics Committee is considering the files of Blatter, Platini and Chung Mong-joon (our photo), the current president of FIFA, who resigned last summer but is still in place, the UEFA boss announced favorite to succeed him, and the South Korean billionaire presumed to be the Frenchman's most dangerous rival for the presidency. In short, the three key figures in the affair.
To the first, she blames almost everything and its opposite, but above all for having showered the entire head with his "largesse", notably Michel Platini, to whom the Swiss would have signed in 2011 a check for 2 million Swiss francs (approximately 1,8 M€), and the Caribbean Football Union of the sulphurous Jack Warner, beneficiary of a very advantageous contract for the television rights to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups. Clearly, Sepp Blatter is accused of misuse of corporate assets , even if the expression is never used in FIFA.
Michel Platini, for his part, must explain the why and how of this now famous check for 2 million Swiss francs received from Sepp Blatter. But, the problem is that the Frenchman has still not been summoned by the FIFA ethics committee. It is difficult, in this case, to justify it.
Chung Mong-joon, the “third man”, is by his own admission under the threat of a 19-year suspension, which is to say definitive because the politician and businessman will celebrate his 64th birthday on October 17. He is criticized for wanting to favor South Korea in the awarding of the 2022 World Cup.
What will the ethics commission do? Mystery. According to several sources, she would compromise her credibility by remaining idle. He will therefore have to act, and therefore sanction. A logical, even normal, scenario would see her immediately dismiss Sepp Blatter, then impose a sanction on Michel Platini and Chung Mong-joon. A decision which would prevent both of them from continuing their campaign for the presidency of FIFA.
The road would then be clear for the “second knives” of the race, the Jordanian prince Ali bin Al Hussein, the Brazilian Zico, the Liberian Mussa Bility, even the South African Tokyo Sexwale, whose name is circulating insistently as a future candidate .
Hard to imagine. But it also does not seem realistic to envisage that, in the current climate, Sepp Blatter will remain in his post until February 26, 2016, the date of the election, and that the outcome of the vote will be decided between Michel Platini and Chung Mong-joon, both now caught in the trap. Chaos, then. An air of déjà vu.
