Sepp Blatter has admitted Fifa needs to work on restoring its credibility following the recent scandals surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid processes.
The lead investigator of Fifa’s ethics committee, Michael Garcia, resigned last week following the governing body’s refusal to release an “appropriate version” of his report looking into corruption in the processes which led to Russia and Qatar being handed the next two World Cups.
Fifa has since announced that an edited version will be made public, and Blatter has now insisted that the organisation must do what it can to clean up its image.
“Public opinion is important because football is the greatest game in the world; connecting people, giving emotions, passion and hope in this world. So it’s very important for me personally at the helm of football to restore credibility,” Blatter said in a Fifa media release to mark the end of business in 2014.
“I brought it to the attention of the Executive Committee in December in Morocco, and then with the intervention of the chair of the guidance committee, Domenico Scala, was asked by the two chairs of the ethics committee to bring a solution.
“When he made the recommendation he made, I was able then to convince all the members of the ExCo, and we had for once a unity within the committee to say ‘yes, we support the publication of this report but in an adequate form’ and only when all investigation matters are not only finished, but are closed.”
Blatter’s current term as president is due to end in 2015, but he is seeking re-election at the May polls. Frenchman Jerome Champagne is currently the only confirmed challenger to the 78-year-old incumbent.
source: goal.com
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