By Sam Laird From Mashable

Analysis
The world has rejoiced and danced on his figurative grave, but just how dead is Sepp Blatter as an influencer within FIFA?

We still have to see what plays out over the next several months, but the future of the planned 2022 World Cup in Qatar will perhaps be a better litmus test of how much change we can actually expect within world soccer’s disgraced governing body.

First up, did Blatter pull the wool over the soccer world’s collective eyes at his dramatic Tuesday press conference where he announced he’d step down as FIFA president? A closer look provides some interesting and worthwhile food for thought, as well as plenty of wiggle room.

Atthe press conference that was met with joy around the world, Blatter said FIFA needed a special election to determine a new president of the organization — all of this coming just days after he himself was elected to a fifth consecutive term and defiantly declared himself the “president of everybody.”

Singing a different tune Tuesday after his re-election was met with wide dismay and indignation, the world’s most hated Swissman said he would “lay down his mandate” and “not be candidate” at the special election expected to come sometime between December and March. He will, however, maintain his position until then.

News outlets across the world trumpeted Blatter’s “resignation,” even though — as noted Wednesday by Mark Doidge at Time — he did not utter the word once from the lectern on Tuesday.

Blatter is something of a laughingstock among soccer fans — he says stupid things and comes off frequently as something of a doofus. But trust this: The guy did not become the most powerful man in global sport and get re-elected at FIFA time and time again without some savvy.

So what might he have up his sleeve?

Doidge parses Blatter’s words further, but one plausible scenario can be learned by looking not far back to the man he succeeded as FIFA president, João Havelange from Brazil. Havelange, too, was plagued by corruption accusations. As colleague Chris Taylor noted in his take on FIFA’s ridiculous self-aggrandizing movie United Passions, Havelange eventually gave up his post after tapping Blatter as his successor.

But Havelange stayed on in a mysterious role as an “honorary president” of FIFA while Blatter, his preferred successor, took over. Is it so hard to imagine a similar scenario potentially playing out after this upcoming special election given how opaque a closer read makes Blatter’s statements on Tuesday? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Take an example of conniving sleight of hand from the political world — Vladimir Putin, to be precise. Putin was voted president of Russia — despite claims of electioneering — in 2000 and 2004. When he was termed out of office, his preferred successor, Dmitry Medvedev, got elected in 2008, then promptly appointed Putin prime minister. Medvedev extended presidential term limits from four years to six.

Then Putin ran again — eligible because of his stint as prime minister — winning another disputed election in 2012, this time for a six-year term. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

But what could Putin and Blatter possibly have in common? Oh yes, that’s right — both are central figures in the suspect bidding process that awarded Russia the 2018 World Cup.

So, um, yeah, about 2018 and 2022
The 2018 World Cup and its 2022 successor, in Qatar, have long been mired by rumors of corruption. The bidding processes for both are now officially under investigation by the FBI, according to Reuters. Blatter himself is under investigation, too; if he’s eventually found guilty of corruption and racketeering, it will surprise exactly no one.

The latest revelation in the FIFA corruption investigation came Wednesday when it was revealed that American Chuck Blazer, once a member of FIFA’s Executive Committee, had pled guilty to federal charges and said he and others had taken bribes related to awarding the 2010 World Cup to South Africa. Blazer did not mention the 2018 or 2022 World Cups specifically, but did offer yet another window into how corruption within FIFA apparently functions — all of it part of the same big mess.

Whether Russia is in fact worthy of hosting the most glorious event is sports is far from certain, even without considering the possibility of a corrupt bidding process — as I detailed here last July. But it’s the 2022 World Cup planned for Qatar that really stinks to high heaven. It should be moved and its future will stand as the biggest test of how much reform is really possible within FIFA.

QatarDemo
Many were shocked when Qatar, a country where Sharia law rules and the summer temperature regularly rises above 120 degrees, was awarded the 2022 tournament in December 2010. Dirty pool was instantly suspected, and the stench has only grown stronger since. Now FIFA says the tournament will be moved to winter, which is soccer sacrilege. But it pales in comparisons to the real reason the 2022 tournament actually occurring there would be an utter tragedy.

This comes down to human rights. Numerous investigative reports have detailed the slave-like conditions under which migrant workers have died building infrastructure for Qatar’s World Cup. The International Trade Union Confederation estimated that at least 4,000 workers will die there if current conditions continue until the tournament kicks off in seven years. Qatar denies those claims, of course. But it’s an ugly picture there, no matter the details.

Whether he can maintain influence within FIFA or not after officially stepping down as president, that’s Blatter’s legacy: Dead workers in Qatar, along with other examples of indignities inflicted upon the poor, such as bulldozed favelas in Brazil, while greedy executives lined their pockets.

Under his leadership, FIFA’s slogan — For the game. For the world. — became a bitterly ironic joke. If FIFA, under a new and fairly elected president, eventually strips the 2022 World Cup from Qatar it will be a big step toward restoring some meaning to that slogan. If not, expecting any actual, lasting change from a disgraced organization will likely be little more than a pipe dream.

IMAGES:
Sepp Blatter, after being elected to a fifth consecutive term as FIFA president on May 29 in Zurich, Switzerland. IMAGE: WALTER BIERI/KEYSTONE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Demonstrators in Zurich decry the conditions faced by workers in Qatar building World Cup infrastructure. IMAGE: GIAN VAITL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

For more on this story and video go to: http://mashable.com/2015/06/03/sepp-blatters-fifa-qatar-world-cup/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

See also iNews Cayman story today “Russia, plagued by soccer scandals, says everything’s going to be fine”