Disgraced former FIFA President Sepp Blatter will attend two matches at the 2018 World Cup at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin despite, the former’s six-year ban from football on unethical conduct charges.
Blatter will attend Wednesday’s match between Portugal and Morocco at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow before traveling to St. Petersburg to watch Brazil take on Costa Rica Friday.
Russia, of course, was awarded the 2018 World Cup as a result of the FIFA Executive Committee’s vote back on December 2, 2010. Russia was given the Cup despite strong opposition bids from England, Netherlands/Belgium and Spain/Portugal.
That vote led directly to the 2015 FIFA corruption case, which ultimately resulted in Blatter’s removal from office after 17 years at the head of FIFA. Blatter was found guilty of a “disloyal payment” of $2 million to Michel Platini, the president of UEFA.
Blatter has strongly denied any wrongdoing since being removed from office.
Blatter has long championed his relationship with Putin, and the Russian president was quick to defend Blatter after the charges of corruption were made. Putin said that Blatter deserved the Nobel peace prize for his humanitarian work with FIFA. There's a lot of back scratching going on here.