Blatter says he is no longer suffering over FIFA fate

Zurich – Former FIFA President Joseph Blatter on Thursday said he was no longer suffering as a result of the corruption scandals which led to his six-year ban from football.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter
FIFA President Sepp Blatter

“I did suffer, Christ’s Passion was also suffering, but I am no longer suffering.

“I can live with all because I have a clear conscience, I have done nothing wrong,’’ he said in Zurich at the presentation of his new biography

Blatter, 80, was banned by FIFA’s Ethics Committee over ethics breaches concerning a “disloyal payment’’ of two million Swiss francs (about 2 million dollars) made to UEFA President Michel Platini in 2011.

However, the former FIFA president, who appealed against his ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), described it as “conspiracy’’ by the U.S. justice authorities

Blatter, in his book “Mission and Passion Football, said his successor, the former UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, once applied “without success’’ for a job at FIFA’s legal department.

According to the book, Blatter was also asked by the Swiss foreign ministry in 2015 to mediate with Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza over his decision to run for another term.

Nkurunziza’s decision had sparked months of unrest in Burundi.

Blatter was quoted as saying he offered Nkurunziza an ambassadorial role with FIFA in exchange for dropping plans to run for a third term, but nothing came of it.