Simon Chadwick on the FIFA Scandal

Professor of sports business strategy Simon Chadwick has made comment on the recent FIFA corruption investigation, as well as the resignation of president Sepp Blatter.

Chadwick said: “While Blatter may have just resigned, it will be a long goodbye. To elect a new president at the next ordinary FIFA congress would mean waiting until May 2016, hence Blatter has called for an extraordinary congress to take place. But this is unlikely to take place until December 2015 at the earliest and possibly even as late as March 2016 – still nearly ten months away.

“He has already stressed that during the intervening period it will ‘free [me] from the constraints that elections inevitably impose, I shall be able to focus on driving far-reaching, fundamental reforms that transcend our previous efforts’. Blatter making one last play, this time as a great reformer – surely not?”

On Blatter’s resignation, Chadwick said the emergence of a letter from the South African Football Association (SAFA) to Blatter’s right-hand man, Secretary-General Jérôme Valcke, could have forced the FIFA president’s hand.

“If Valcke is under suspicion,” said Chadwick, “then Blatter himself is becoming increasingly exposed to scrutiny. And with the FBI circling and world opinion turning against him, Blatter has recently been running out of options, excuses and the loving support of his fellow FIFA family members.”

You can learn more about what Sepp Blatter's resignation means for FIFA by watching Professor Chadwick's video above and reading his piece in The Conversation