June 19 – He always said he would come and now Sepp Blatter is sticking to his word – right under the nose of his successor.
All eyes will be on the exact whereabouts of the former FIFA president Blatter when he defies his ban from the game and attends two World Cup matches this week as well as meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As well as being barred over the infamous “disloyal payment” made to Michel Plaitni, Blatter is also being investigated by Swiss prosecutors for criminal mismanagement during his 17-year reign at the head of FIFA.
Blatter of course is free to attend the World Cup provided he has no official capacity and on several occasions said he would respond favourably to an invitation from Putin.
He is now planning to attend Wednesday’s Portugal-Morocco Group B match in the Russian capital and is also scheduled to watch Brazil’s Group E match against Costa Rica in St Petersburg on Friday before returning to Switzerland.
It is not known exactly where he will sit, where he is staying or whether he will meet the media. But his visit will doubtless be noted by Gianni Infantino who will hope Blatter’s appearance will not detract from focussing on what has been an extremely well-organised competition.
In his new book, Blatter criticises Infantino for getting rid of the independent ethics mechanism which Blatter claims was doing its job in terms of weeding out corruption – even if he ended up being one of the culprits.
Ironically Blatter’s final trip abroad as FIFA leader was the World Cup qualifying draw in 2015 in St. Petersburg where he shared a stage with Putin.
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