• by Joe Curtis, writing from South Beach, FL

The theme of yesterday's FIFA press conference with Sepp Blatter was respect. Mr. Blatter "answered" questions yesterday regarding the current FIFA crisis, which Blatter insists doesn't exist. Crisis? What is a crisis," Blatter said. "Football is not in a crisis." According to Merriam-Webster, a Crisis is: an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending. Well, this definitely is a crucial time for FIFA, and FIFA General Secretary Jérôme Valcke did say:

“The most important thing is a commitment from all the members of executive committee and president to ensure change at FIFA, so that in his last mandate FIFA is stronger and cleaner than it was. But if you are asking me am I happy that Blatter is elected president, the answer is yes.” 

Lets review: this is a crucial time, and a decisive change is impending. So yes Mr. Blatter, this is a crisis. I have a hard time understanding how the Champions League Final proves that FIFA is not in a crisis: "When you have seen the match, the final match of the Champions League then you must applaud, and you see what the game is, what is fair play, what is good control of the game". He might as well said that FIFA was not in a crisis because the birds outside were chirping. Both are irrelevant.

My favorite part of the press conference is just the fact that Blatter made it seem as if he was doing everyone a favor by "answering" questions, and because of that we owed him respect. Everyone had to kneel before him because he decided to answer questions alone. No Sepp, no. Blatter was better off not showing up.

The press conference resulted in #BlatterOut trending worldwide on Twitter. Everyone was in shock, even Rio Ferdinand commented on Twitter:

FIFA's major sponsors have begun reacting to the corruption allegations. Adidas, whose been partners with FIFA for 30 years, was the first to make a statement. “The negative tenor of the public debate around FIFA at the moment is neither good for football nor for FIFA and its partners”.

Coca-Cola, who has been a major sponsor since 1974, was the second sponsor to release a statement: “The current allegations being raised are distressing and bad for the sport. We have every expectation that FIFA will resolve this situation in an expedient and thorough manner.”

Third came Visa, who said: “The current situation is clearly not good for the game and we ask that FIFA take all necessary steps to resolve the concerns that have been raised,”

The only hope for change in FIFA is through the actions of its major sponsors. FIFA likes money. The threat of losing sponsors will force them to make changes.

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