Criticism continues for FIFA, Blatter

Associated Press

LONDON

In the House of Commons, they’re calling for Sepp Blatter’s head. And even inside the FIFA president’s own executive committee, there is the threat of resignation.

A new week has brought new turmoil for soccer’s embattled 79-year-old president and his scandal-tainted governing body, which is in the midst of the worst corruption case in its 111-year history.

“For the good of the game, it is time for Sepp Blatter to go,” British sports and culture secretary John Whittingdale told the House of Commons on Monday.

While the newly re-elected Blatter seems to be going nowhere despite the arrests and indictments of several soccer officials last week in Zurich, others are calling it quits or threatening to do so.

FIFA medical chief Michel D’Hooghe, the longest-serving member on the executive committee, said he would leave unless there were rapid reforms.

“I cannot reconcile myself with an institution where I work, where I have carried the medical responsibility for 27 years and about which I now learn that there is a lot of corruption,” D’Hooghe told the VRT television network in Belgium.

“My conclusion is very clear: I will no longer continue to participate [in FIFA] under such conditions. So, it is high time for change to come and we will see over the coming days what may happen. Let’s be clear, if this atmosphere prevails at FIFA, I have no place there.”

D’Hooghe has served on FIFA’s ruling body since 1988, a decade before Blatter’s move up from secretary general to president.

“If you are faced with an abscess, simple medication does not suffice,” D’Hooghe said. “You have to cut it open.”