Commentary: Could Sepp Blatter’s downfall lead to FIFA’s as well?

Sepp Blatter’s ruthless 17-year reign as FIFA president is over. Everybody knows it except Sepp Blatter.

The question now is whether FIFA’s days are numbered as well.

Blatter and two other high-ranking soccer officials were suspended by the world soccer body’s ethics committee Thursday, the latest development in a 4-month-old scandal that has produced U.S. indictments against nine current and former soccer executives and the opening of a Swiss criminal investigation against Blatter.

Also suspended Thursday were UEFA President Michel Platini and former FIFA vice president Chung Mong-joon, both of whom had been among the favorites to succeed Blatter when he steps down in February. Last month, Blatter’s chief aide, Jerome Valcke, another presidential hopeful, was suspended in a separate corruption scandal involving alleged black market ticket sales at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

That leaves 69-year-old Issa Hayatou of Cameroon, FIFA’s vice president and the head of the African soccer federation since 1988, in charge. But Hayatou is hardly a robust replacement candidate long-term. In addition to serious health problems that require regular dialysis, he has ethics problems of his own, having been sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee for accepting cash payments from a sports marketing firm.

Does anyone detect a pattern here?

Given the long list of indictments, suspensions and judicial investigations, it appears as though FIFA has become more of a criminal gang than a sports organization, one in which shakedowns, bribes and money laundering have become common business practices.

“For quite a lot of people, that’s how’s they’ve done it for such a long time that they thought it was quite normal,� said Jonathan Calvert, a British journalist whose own investigation of FIFA resulted in the book “The Ugly Game: The Corruption of FIFA and the Qatari Plot to Buy the World Cup.�

Even before Blatter’s suspension, many of FIFA’s chief backers had begun demanding substantial changes. Coca-Cola, Visa, Anheuser-Busch and McDonald’s -- who together give FIFA $1 billion in sponsorship money each four-year World Cup cycle -- last week called on the president to resign “for the benefit of the game.�

The IOC -- which knows a little about corruption in global sports organizations -- signed on to that Thursday, calling for a “credible external presidential candidate� to take over FIFA.

The problem is, there may not be one. By virtually wiping out the group’s executive ranks, FIFA’s own ethics committee has now told us how high the trail of corruption leads. What we don’t know yet is how far down the ladder the trail goes.

“The rot in the FIFA leadership is so extensive that there are no longer credible alternatives to choose from,� Alexandra Wrage, a lawyer and president of Trace International, a leading global anti-bribery business association, told CNN

Indeed the lawlessness appears to be endemic, meaning the only way to save FIFA is to kill it and start over again.

“Blatter, at this point, is probably the least of FIFA’s problems,� said Roger Pielke Jr., a University of Colorado professor and political scientist who tracks FIFA.

Yet the president fights on, with his lawyers issuing a statement early Thursday denying any wrongdoing and claiming the situation has all been a misunderstanding.

“President Blatter looks forward to the opportunity to present evidence that will demonstrate that he did not engage in any misconduct, criminal or otherwise,� they said.

The Swiss criminal investigation that spurred Thursday’s suspension centers on two transactions: the awarding of World Cup broadcast rights to former CONCACAF President Jack Warner -- already under indictment by U.S. officials -- and a suspicious $2-million payment to Platini.

That payment also led to Platini’s suspension, which will force him to step down, as least temporarily, as president of UEFA, the powerful ruling body of European soccer.

Blatter’s proclamation of innocence is unlikely to sway German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, who chairs FIFA’s ethics committee and is the man who approved the suspension. That means it’s checkmate for world soccer’s top official, who has repeatedly dodged corruption charges during his five terms as president.

The 90-day suspension will sideline him until early December, when it can be extended an additional 45 days. That could keep Blatter out of office until just before the Feb. 26 special election he has called to choose his successor.

The question now is: What comes next?