Post-Valcke release: We will survive difficult situation, says Blatter

FIFA president writes letter to 209 members urging them to remain calm

MIAMI: FIFA President Sepp Blatter, whose second-in-command Jerome Valcke was released from his duties on Thursday following allegations related to ticket sales, has told the organisation’s members that they will “come through this difficult situation together.”

The swift action against Valcke was another major blow for Blatter as questions about corruption during his 17-year reign build.

“I remain confident that we will also be able to come through this difficult situation together, and thank you for your trust,” wrote Blatter in a letter to the 209 FIFA member-nations.

Frenchman Valcke, Blatter’s number two since 2007, was placed on leave just hours after a ticket-dealer and ex-footballer Benny Alon made the allegations about the ticket-selling plan at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The 79-year-old Blatter, who has been at the helm of football’s governing body since 1998, said that FIFA Deputy Secretary General Markus Kattner would take over “operational matters” for now.

The allegations against Valcke come on top of probes by the US Department of Justice and the Swiss Attorney General’s Office into corruption at FIFA after the indictment of 14 senior football officials and sports marketing executives in May.

Valcke “unequivocally” denied the allegations as “fabricated and outrageous” in a statement from his US lawyer Barry Berke. Earlier on Friday, a US judge in New York held a hearing regarding two sports marketing executives named in the US indictment — Alejandro Burzaco and Aaron Davidson.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2015.

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