Zurich, May 29 (IANS) Sepp Blatter on Friday doubted the timing of a series of arrests ahead of his bid to get re-elected as the FIFA president.
Blatter on Friday morning, addressing the 65th FIFA Congress here, spoke about the events on Wednesday which witnessed 14 people being indicted for money laundering, fraud and racketeering.
“It is not good for all this to occur two days before the election. I’m not going to use the word coincidence but I do have a small question mark,” Blatter was quoted as saying by goal.com.
The 79-year-old also urged the member associations to try and lift the shadow of the tough times that have befallen on the world football governing body.
“You will know that right now we are going through troubling times. I will not call them unprecedented. These events have cast a shadow so let us try to lift that shadow. Let us try to lift our spirits. We can’t let the reputation of football be dragged through the mud like that,” he said.
“They are truly at fault, especially if they are found guilty. They are not the entire organisation, those certain individuals who have forgotten that FIFA is based on respect, discipline and a team sport with the same goal,” the Swiss aded.
“We need to be singing from the same song sheet, especially when we talk of the character of the organisation. It is our goal to share this respect with all of you.”
Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan is the only one who is contesting against Blatter in the presidential election but the latter is expected to extend his current 17-year spell in power of the world’s most popular and biggest sport.