Envy and hatred among the media is what ruined FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s reputation, his daughter said on Sunday in an interview published by the Swiss newspaper Blick.
“The media ruined his reputation. Why are they picking on him? What did he do to them? I don’t know,” said Corinne Blatter, who was a top adviser to her father as he rose through the ranks of world soccer’s governing body.
“It’s not just envy. It’s hatred,” she was quoted as saying.
Sepp Blatter became engulfed in the worst-ever scandal at FIFA last month, when Swiss prosecutors opened a criminal investigation against him over mismanagement.
“I am shocked that he is accused of criminal acts. My father is not a criminal,” Corinne Blatter told the paper, according to a version of the interview posted online.
On Friday last week, FIFA’s top US-based sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Visa, McDonald’s and Budweiser, called for Sepp Blatter to immediately step down, saying that his remaining in office was inhibiting urgently needed reform.
Sepp Blatter has said he will go, but only once his replacement is chosen at a special election in February next year.
“Under no circumstances” will Sepp Blatter remain as FIFA’s president after that Feb. 26 vote, Corinne Blatter said, following previous speculation that her father might seek to extend his tenure.
However, many believe that Sepp Blatter could be forced out in a matter of days, with the Swiss criminal probe and the unified resignation call from powerful FIFA sponsors putting unprecedented pressure on the 79-year-old Swiss national, who has led FIFA since 1998.
Swiss investigators questioned Sepp Blatter for nearly eight hours on Sept. 25, taking a number of breaks, his daughter told the paper.
“I was afraid they would take him away in handcuffs,” she said.
She also raised questions about the conduct of the Swiss attorney general’s office, noting that officials provided her father with no warning and that the press release announcing the criminal proceedings amounted to condemnation before Blatter could even provide a defense.
Swiftly after Coca-Cola issued its resignation call, Blatter’s US-based lawyer, Richard Cullen, announced that his client had no plans to resign.
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