IN May, when he was lobbying for votes in his efforts to be reelected for a fourth term as the allpowerful president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter banged his fist on a table as he launched an impassioned defence of the integrity of football’s world governing body.

He insisted it was not institutionally corrupt and that critics should stop staying so. “Stop, please, saying FIFA is corrupt,” he pleaded.

“FIFA is not corrupt.

Definitely not.”

Since then expresidential candidate Mohammed Bin Hammam, former president of the Asian Football Federation and member of FIFA’s 24- strong executive committee, has been banned for life on charges of giving or offering bribes for votes, and fellow executive committee member Jack Warner, previously the most influential figure in Caribbean football and the man who, coincidentally, accused Bin Hammam of “buying” the 2022 World Cup for Qatar, has resigned, allegedly jumping before he was pushed.

FIFA then asked its ethics committee to investigate 16 Caribbean football leaders in connection with the bribery scandal involving Bin Hammam The senior officials are suspected of taking cash bribes to back Bin Hammam in the presidential election – suspicions that led to Colin Klass, a member of the Caribbean Football Union’s executive committee, being suspended for 26 months.

When his ban was upheld by FIFA last week Bin Hammam announced he was taking his case to the Court of Arbitration in Sport, ensuring that bribery and corruption will continue to dominate world football’s agenda, whether its president likes it or not. Since being reelected, Blatter has completely changed his stance on corruption by promising to “put FIFA’s ship back on the right course in clear, transparent waters”. But, if FIFA wasn’t institutionally corrupt in the first place – under his leadership don’t forget – why the need for such drastic action?