FIFA`s foul play

Horst Dassler, the late former chairman of the Adidas sporting goods company who helped Sepp Blatter gain his power within FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, once commented on the FIFA chief, condemning him of being "ungrateful." In the 1970s, Dassler, who exerted great influences over the sports industry, kicked out decent directors of sports federations, replacing them with racketeers. Blatter was one of them.

Blatter, who has been ruling FIFA for 17 years, is the soccer emperor. He took enormous amounts of bribes during the process of selecting World Cup hosts and sponsors. The Swiss prosecution is investigating the process in which Russia and Qatar won the right to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup games. An e-mail, in which FIFA demanded money from the president of South Africa, in connection with the 2010 World Cup in the country. Seven senior FIFA officials have been arrested by the U.S. Justice Department on bribery charges.

Despite the corruption scandals, Blatter has been re-elected as FIFA`s president for a fifth term this year. As the investigations zeroed in on him, however, he offered to resign, saying he would perform his duty until a new FIFA chief is elected on February 26, next year. Chung Mong-joon, honorary chairman of the Korea Football Association, Michel Platini, president of the Union of European Football Associations, and Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein of Jordan have declared their bid for FIFA presidency under anti-Blatter banners.

Ahead of the closing of candidacy registration, FIFA`s ethics committee has banned Chung from "all football activities on a national and international level" for six years for outrageous reasons. Although the charges against Chung stem from his letters to FIFA members about Korea`s plan to raise football development funds if South Korea were awarded the World Cup, the reason for the disciplinary action against him was his criticism of the ethics committee`s investigation activities. The penalty is outrageously big, compared with a 90-day suspension given to Platini, who is under bribery suspicion. Ironically, FIFA`s attempt to tie up the hands and feet of strong candidates to keep them from running for the organization`s leadership position is the reason why Blatter has to be expelled. FIFA`s ball is never round.