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After the court announced that former leaders of the International Football Associations Federation took bribes, current president Joseph Blatter was worried about his own uniform.
Ancestors took millions
Last week, Switzerland's highest court publicly exposed documents confirming that former FIFA leaders - long-time president Joao Havelange and member of the organization's executive committee Ricardo Teixeira - took millions in bribes from the company International Sports and Leisure (ISL).
J.Havelange was at the helm of FIFA from 1974 to 1998, and he was also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). R.Teixeira led the Brazilian Football Federation from 1989 to 2012.
The results of the investigation show that in March 1997 J.Havelange received over 1.5 million US dollars in bribes from ISL, and R.Teixeira enriched himself with 12.7 million Swiss francs in this way from 1992 to 1997.
Dark storm clouds gathered over current FIFA president J.Blatter's head.
Didn't know anything?
"I only found out about the ISL story when it went bankrupt, but I was already suspected of corruption, although I never approved of what happened," Blatter said in an interview with the newspaper Blick. "I am under attack: supposedly I didn't take bribes, but I had to know that others did. No, I didn't know. All transfers from ISL were made to J.Havelange's personal account, only one, apparently by mistake, came to FIFA and was immediately refunded. People causing noise want to get rid of me."
Blatter confirmed that he will initiate the revocation of the title of Honorary President of FIFA given to J.Havelange. "After this scandal, he must step down. I will propose that the congress make the appropriate decision," said the FIFA strategist.
Two years ago, Blatter insisted that there were no "rotten eggs" in the organization he led.
"I admit that at the time, speaking about rotten eggs, I made a mistake, but there is certainly no systematic corruption in FIFA, otherwise we would not have survived all these cases," said the 76-year-old Swiss.
The Germans are not shaken
Commenting on the statement that you can buy the right to host the World Cup with bribes, Blatter unexpectedly threw a stone into Germany's garden.
"I remember when we were choosing the host of the 2006 World Cup. Suddenly, someone came out of the room where the vote was taking place, and instead of a tie 10:10 victory, Germany celebrated 10:9. At first, I naively rejoiced that I did not have to use a decisive vote to determine the winner, but later I understood what had happened," said the FIFA president.
The Germans immediately reacted to Blatter's mysterious reply.
"I don't understand such statements from the FIFA president. He even made a mistake in naming the numbers: the voting result was not 10:9, but 12:11, and Germany's victory was determined by the fact that eight European committee members voted for it," said legendary German footballer Franz Beckenbauer.
"Blatter's vague hints have no reasonable basis. He is trying to divert attention from what has been happening in his organization recently," refuted Helmut Sandrock, general secretary of the German Football Association.
