Adidas has declined to support four other leading Fifa sponsors who called for Sepp Blatter's immediate resignation earlier this month, after Swiss prosecutors opened criminal proceedings against the football organization's president on allegations of criminal mismanagement and, alternatively, misappropriation. Blatter subsequently received a provisional suspension of 90 days from the adjudicatory chamber of Fifa's ethics committee, which he has appealed.
Coca-Cola, McDonalds, AB Inbev (Budweiser) and Visa all called for Blatter to leave in order to move on more quickly with the reform process at Fifa. Blatter said on June 2 that he would call for new elections in which he would not stand after the arrest of seven Fifa officials around the organization's congress in Zurich in May. The U.S. Department of Justice then unsealed an indictment in which 14 people are alleged to have taken part in fraudulent schemes around football events, broadcasting and marketing agreements, with bribes and kickbacks reaching more than $150 million. Although Blatter was re-elected during the congress, he came under heavy pressure and said he would resign, but planned to stay in charge until elections for a new president in February.
Coca-Cola led the calls from four sponsors for Blatter to clear his office, arguing that “the image and reputation of Fifa continues to tarnish” every day, and that Blatter should step down “immediately” so that a credible and sustainable process could begin in earnest.
The partnership between Fifa and Coca-Cola is a foundation stone for the football organization's huge commercial development since the seventies – organized with support from Horst Dassler, the son of Adidas' founder Adi Dassler. The marketing programs initiated at the time have turned into an important source of revenue for Fifa, amounting to $461.7 million in 2014. Over the four-year period from 2011 to 2014, sales of marketing rights amounted to $1,629 million, out of total revenues of $5,718 million.
Adidas, which extended its partnership with Fifa two years ago until 2030, issued a statement reiterating that fundamental changes had to be implemented at Fifa, but refrained from even mentioning Blatter. Two other major sponsors, Kia and Gazprom, haven't joined the call for Blatter's resignation, either.
Some comments suggested that the four companies may have wanted to formally keep their distance as the U.S. case continues to progress. They pointed out that all four of them are U.S. firms – although AB Inbev, the brewing giant behind the Budweiser brand and scores of others, is listed in Belgium.
As part of the latest upheavals in the football business, the ethics committee also ordered the provisional suspension of Michel Platini and Jérôme Valcke. Platini, the former French football champion who heads up Uefa and was the favorite candidate to succeed Blatter, has appealed. Valcke, the organization's general secretary, had already been put on leave by Fifa. They and Blatter, who all deny wrongdoing, are banned from all football activities on a national and international level for 90 days, with a potential extension of up to 45 days. The bans were issued on Oct. 8, with immediate effect.
Another candidate for Blatter's succession, Chung Mong-Joon, a South Korean billionaire whose family heads the Hyundai conglomerate, was banned from football for six years and received a fine of 100,000 Swiss francs (€92,354-$104,900). He was found by the ethics committee to have violated Fifa's ethics code in connection with the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Fifa said.
Meanwhile, an article in Der Spiegel suggests that the German Football Federation (DBF) gave a sum of €6.7 million to Fifa to obtain the venue of the 2006 World Cup, but the DBF has denied that it was donated for this aim. The article says that the late Robert Louis-Dreyfus, who was the chief executive of Adidas at the time, advanced the amount to the DBF in 2000 and asked to be reimbursed in 2006. According to the German magazine, it seems that Franz Beckenbauer, the German football champion who ran Germany's bidding process for the World Cup, and Wolfgang Niesbach, the current head of DFB, were aware of the slush fund by 2005 at the latest.
A spokesman for the Adidas Group stated that it has no knowledge of Louis-Dreyfus' alleged payment. He reiterated the group's position in favor of greater transparency in Fifa's dealings.
The office of the attorney general of Switzerland (OAG) suspects that Blatter signed a contract with the Caribbean Football Union, then headed by Jack Warner, which was “unfavorable” for Fifa and that Blatter also violated his fiduciary duties and acted against the interests of Fifa in the implementation of this agreement. The OAG added that Blatter was suspected of a “disloyal payment” of 2 million Swiss francs (€1.8m-$2.1m) to Platini, “at the expense of Fifa.” It was allegedly made in February 2011 for work performed between January 1999 and June 2002. Chung has said he will appeal against his ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Issa Hayatou, the president of the Confederation of African Football, was installed on Oct. 8 as Fifa's interim president, but he said he will not be a candidate for the post of president, who will be chosen by an Extraordinary Congress of Fifa next Feb. 26.
