Bayern Munich President Voices Blatter Concerns

January 6, 2012

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness has spoken of his reservations about Sepp Blatter remaining at the helm of FIFA.

Hoeness has asserted that the president of football’s governing body should be replaced if he fails to cleanse the game of the various ills that befell it in 2011.

He stated in an interview with German daily paper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, “Blatter must clearly explain in the next 12 months how he wants to dry out this swamp, and if he doesn’t do that, one must create possibilities to depose him.

“Every week something new comes up. We have been quiet for a while because we had the feeling that it was sorting itself out. But now we will once again put the matter on the boil”.

His comments echo the words of the German footballing giant’s CEO, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who lampooned the “daily corruption process at FIFA” in a speech in his role as Chair of the European Club Association in 2011.

Blatter was re-elected as FIFA president for the fourth time last year in spite of an annus horribilis for the 75-year-old which featured bribery and corruption scandals, as well as the racism furore.