Sepp Blatter Resigns From FIFA

Sepp Blatter has resigned from FIFA in a surprising move today, a week after winning re-election. Rumors have it that the FBI has mounting evidence on his involvement in the FIFA corruption scandal. It is doubtful he will show up to the FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, as Canada would extradite him in a heartbeat. Loretta Lynch has officially defeated Blatter in a Penalty Shootout.

A new election will happen in December, and Luis Figo along with Prince Ali could be favorites to replace him.

The best tweet in response to this came from Megan Rapinoe:

Ding dong the witch is dead. Daddy got his hand caught in the cookie jar🙈☕️🐸.

— Megan Rapinoe (@mPinoe) June 2, 2015

Now we can hopefully have some positive change in FIFA. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is in question and could be taken away. There are already over 1000 migrant workers who have died constructing stadiums for the tiny nation. The 2018 World Cup in Russia might also be in jeopardy.

This comes on the same day as Abby Wambach's birthday. I know she is one happy birthday woman!

FIFA Officials Being Arrested on Corruption

Currently in Zurich, Switzerland, a number of FIFA officials are being arrested and extradited to the US on corruption charges. Sadly though, Sepp Blatter is not one of those. My only question is what took so long? The arrests happened as FIFA officials were attending a meeting at headquarters. Swiss law enforcement, not in uniform, went to hotel rooms to arrest each of them. It goes to show just how corrupt FIFA is that the neutral Swiss are going out of their way to arrest them and send them to the US.

The charges are money laundering, racketeering, and wire fraud. As everyone know, a bribery scandal recently rocked FIFA, with Qatar paying millions of dollars and giving gifts for votes. Its also likely Russia did the same for the 2018 World Cup. One law enforcement official said, "We’re struck by just how long this went on for and how it touched nearly every part of what FIFA did." This article in the New York Times has loads of details.

It's still highly doubtful that the 2022 World Cup will be moved from Qatar, despite the hundreds of deaths of migrant workers. Recently, workers from Nepal were not allowed to go back to check on family or attend funerals, despite the thousands who tragically died in the Nepal Earthquake. Stay classy, Qatar. The 2022 Cup was also moved to November/December because of the extreme heat during the Summer, even though it will interfere with the club soccer calendar.

It is also highly doubtful that Sepp Blatter won't win re-election as head of FIFA. The election is Friday May 30th. Though one can only hope after this investigation that Blatter will have his day in court.

I would personally love to see the Men in Blazers run FIFA, right from their closet in the crap part of SoHo.

2022 FIFA Fall/Winter World Cup?

FIFA exec Jerome Valcke has announced that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar won't be held during the Summer because of the extreme heat in Qatar...moving it to begin in either November, December, or January. However, FIFA VP Jim Boyce then said they haven't decided on a date yet. So we have two contradicting statements coming from people representing FIFA...which isn't really a surprise. I believe Valcke, and FIFA is just trying to save face in order to try and stop there being an uproar about the time of the 2022 World Cup ahead of the 2014 World Cup.

This is causing quite the controversy as it would interrupt the club calendar of the various football/soccer leagues in different parts of the world, the biggest being Europe. It would also fall during the NFL playoff chase, offering up yet another dilemma, especially for FOX Sports, who have the TV Broadcast rights. Though I guess it could be a good distraction for fans of teams who are eliminated from NFL Playoff Contention.

They wouldn't be able to have the event in February 2022, because then it would clash with the Winter Olympics. All these years after choosing Qatar, FIFA is just now realizing it is way too hot there to have it in the Summer? I guess the dollar signs in their eyes while they were taking bribes from Qatar & Russia (2018 host) were confusing them.