Forbidden from using his office to solicit votes for his re-election, FIFA president Sepp Blatter instead took time on Friday to use his position to address the crisis in Ukraine.
The soccer world’s master politician insisted he is not campaigning for himself, despite appearing to do exactly the opposite at his first news conference since the four-candidate contest was declared last month.
However, Blatter did take time to lecture the media about soccer’s potential to calm geopolitical strife, told unnamed lawmakers to back off calling for World Cup boycotts and evaded requests to apologize for upheaval caused by switching the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the end of that year.
“The World Cup in Russia will be able to stabilize all this situation that is in this region of Europe,” said Blatter, who has been closely allied to the 2018 host’s president, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Blatter also said that he was unimpressed by politicians who have used FIFA’s marquee event to make their point.
“The message is leave sports alone,” said FIFA’s top man, days after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko urged allies to boycott the next World Cup.
“Boycotting a World Cup or any sporting event has never brought any solutions to nobody,” added Blatter, who has been an International Olympic Committee member for 16 years.
Blatter said sharply that the Council of Europe had switched their boycott calls in recent months from the World Cup in Qatar to Russia’s tournament.
“This is a direct interference,” said Blatter, adding that FIFA — which counts Russian Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko among its executive committee members — has rules against government meddling in soccer affairs.
The 79-year-old Swiss official is the favorite to win a fifth term as FIFA president from a majority of the 209 member federations, who seem to have little wish to change his leadership style and the grants, bonuses and committee positions which flow from the headquarters in Zurich.
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