WindhoekNamibian football heavyweights have leapt to the defence of embattled FIFA President Sepp Blatter over his reluctance to vacate football’s strongest seat.
Blatter has been reelected as FIFA president for the fifth term after brushing aside some unwanted attention from the unknown Jordanian Prince Ali, amidst rumblings of discontent from disgruntled FIFA members, notably from the European Union.
President of the Namibia Football Association (NFA) Frans Mbidi is adamant the ageing Swede is still the right man to usher the world’s football organization into a new era, despite damning allegations of corruption and money laundering that led to the arrest of certain high-ranking FIFA officials.
“We at the NFA are very grateful and indebted to Blatter for what he has done for the development of football in Africa, Namibia in particular. Today we have assets valued at N$50-million and that’s all because of Blatter’s initiatives.”
Mbidi insists that had it not been for Blatter’s timely intervention and unsurpassed vision to bring African states on par with their more affluent global counterparts in terms of infrastructure – Africa would still be lagging far behind.
“He (Blatter) introduced several commendable projects to improve the infrastructure of FIFA members on the African continent while levelling the playing field in terms of the FIFA annual grant to all its member states,” he says.
The NFA’s outspoken Secretary General Barry Rukoro did not mince words when approached to give his view on Blatter’s prolonged stay at the helm of FIFA.
“It’s not that we at NFA condone the longevity of Blatter as FIFA president but there are a number of significant factors that obliged us to throw our weight behind Blatter.
“Europeans and Americans are hell-bent on trying to dominate world football in the same way they control the global economy and can’t stomach the fact that the world’s largest sporting entity is outside their grip,” he says.
Rukoro adds that Europeans desperately want to topple Blatter from the pedestal because they have their own agendas.
“Obviously, their arrogance seems to know no boundaries.
What puzzles the mind is that in their misplaced pursuance to coerce us into voting against Blatter, they still have the audacity to utter loudly that Blatter is giving all the money to Africa and yet they want our votes.”
The long-serving football administrator added that it would be a tall order to have an African at the helm of FIFA because other football associations and federations would not endorse such aspirations.