July 12, 1999
By Rob Miech
SportsLine Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES -- FIFA president Sepp Blatter is discovering just how uneasy lay the head that wears the crown.
Blatter took over the top spot of soccer's world-governing body before France '98. Two years earlier, FIFA had awarded the 2002 World Cup to co-hosts Japan and South Korea, the first time that region will play host to the sport's most prestigious event.
In December, after doling out the 32 spots for the next World Cup, Blatter got hit with a boycott threat from the Asian Football Confederation when it was left with the same number of berths, four, that it received last summer in France.
And in the spring, Blatter received an injunction to have David Yallop's book, How They Stole the Game, banned in England. Although Yallop mostly targets former FIFA president Joao Havelange, Blatter doesn't escape unscathed.
Yallop alleges Blatter secured the votes he needed to win the post over UEFA president Lennart Johansson, who rules the European Confederation, via money from an Arab sheikh. Stories of envelopes stuffed with $50,000 and influential "gifts" to those voters abound.
THE BOYCOTT THREAT HEIGHTENED last Friday when the AFC delegates walked out of the annual FIFA congress at the Century Plaza Hotel, leaving a stumped Blatter to ponder his next move.
If the AFC powers can't be budged, Blatter should act swiftly. Japanese and South Korea will choose their words carefully, fearing a strong show of support for the other 43 AFC nations will jeopardize their right to host the 2002 World Cup.
They are correct in their fears, although top officials from both nations said they foresee no problems in their hopes, and plans, to host the Cup.
Blatter said he plans to hunker down in his Zurich, Switzerland, home and office to try to devise a solution. No delegates from any confederation had ever walked out of such a high-level meeting in the 95-year history of FIFA.
If a solution can't be reached and the AFC remains stubborn, Blatter has only one alternative -- taking the World Cup games from Asia. As Earl Bennett, general secretary for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, noted, "an unprecedented action calls for an unprecedented reaction."
England salivates over hosting the 2006 World Cup, but Football Association officials don't want an aggressive inquiry about moving that up four years to hurt its attempts to stage the 2006 event. And reconstruction of Wembley Stadium, a two-year project slated to begin in September, would have to be accelerated.
South Africa is also a hot contender for the 2006 Cup, and Germany is also somewhere in the mix. And FIFA officials, so enamored with the recent Women's World Cup and USA '94, would strongly consider the United States, which has a standing offer to fill in at a moment's notice.
BLATTER HAD A LIGHT AGENDA scheduled for Friday. A revised four-year financial period, beginning Jan. 1 after a World Cup, was approved, and a budget surplus of almost a quarter of a billion Swiss Francs (about $170 million) was acknowledged. A third of that will be distributed for the development of the game.
A surplus of 34 million Swiss Francs ($24 million) for 1998 was OK'd, and the congress also approved a deadline reduction for sending documents relating to the congress, a simplification of the notarial procedure for real-estate transactions and the expansion of the FIFA financial committee to include a member of Oceania.
Tame topics, indeed. Unless you factor in that Blatter boiled as he attacked his agenda, after the AFC delegates stood up and walked out of a ballroom as roll call was being executed. An eerie silence lingered after the last hostile delegate shut the door behind him.
The root of that faction's discontent is planted in South America. Europe offered a part of one of its 15 berths to Asia, in the form of a playoff. That offered the AFC the possibility of having five teams in the 2002 World Cup, but that wasn't good enough. The AFC wanted another half to ensure that it would have five participants.
With five slots, all eyes focused on South America. Over our dead bodies, they said. By yielding half a spot, South America's fifth-place team would then enter a playoff against Europe's 15th-best team for the right to go to the World Cup and Asia would secure its coveted fifth slot.
The AFC, especially general secretary Peter Velappen, is incensed that half of South America's countries are ensured of passage to the World Cup.
HE ALSO SAID IF FIFA DOESN'T RESOLVE the situation, the AFC will call an emergency session of its delegates within 60 days to endorse the proposed boycott.
"The objective of the World Cup is more than just having the best teams in the world," Velappen said in the spring. "The fact is that the game in Asia is moving forward and it is only possible for the World Cup to bring out the best in teams. The critics have no idea what football in Asia is about."
It hasn't been about much, and FIFA has never been mistaken for the United Way or International Red Cross. South America has been represented 11 times in World Cup Finals, highlighted by Argentina-Uruguay in 1930 and Brazil-Uruguay in 1950. Only two Asian teams have escaped the Group stage.
Japan, though, is considered an up-and-comer on the world stage because of its defeat to Spain in the Under-20 World Youth Cup in Nigeria in April. Manager Philippe Troussier said perhaps half a dozen players on that Japanese roster should be ready for 2002.
"We definitely reject any argument on performance or merit," Velappan said. An understandable statement from an AFC official, since that confederation's track record -- the only true gauge of a confederation or a nation -- has been so pitiful.
BLATTER, HOWEVER, DID HAVE some lighter moments during Friday's tumultuous events. At an early afternoon news conference mostly attended by foreign media members, he smiled widely whenever a topic other than the AFC's breakaway was broached.
"Thank you," Blatter said two or three times. "A question about football."
Once, he slipped, talking about the World Cup that will be staged in "2004." Blatter came under fire at the start of this year when he announced, through a Swiss newspaper, the possibility of staging the event every two years, instead of every fourth year.
He quickly realized his slip Friday, smiling and correcting himself.
 | |
| FIFA president Sepp Blatter will go to his Switzerland home to try and come up with a solution to the conflict with the AFC. (AP) |
"No," he said. "The World Cup is every four years. It will be held in 2002 and 2006."
WHERE IT WILL BE HELD those years is anyone's guess. If the AFC delegates who walked out on FIFA last week were just showing off in a sign of solidarity for the folks back home, then a solution probably will be reached by the end of next week.
But if they truly meant business, they challenged the wrong man. When Havelange took the 1986 World Cup from Colombia and gave it to Mexico, the precedent was set. And Asia thinks it is threatening Blatter?
Asia has already produced enough headaches for FIFA, which must consider starting the 2002 World Cup early because of the lethal monsoon season. That is, if the tournament remains in Asia.
Blatter talked about FIFA being a family last week, and that a member of a family doesn't leave the dinner table before a meal is served. If Asia proves stubborn, it could find itself missing more than just one meal.
The United States, England, Germany and South Africa are all eagerly licking their chops on the periphery, waiting for the go-ahead from Blatter to host the next quadrennial dinner. Just when the game was set to make a splash in Asia, it's instead on the verge of drowning.