Football has offered collective joy many a time. The latest in a series of incidents of graft at the sport’s top body casts a shadow upon the beauty of the game and the very ideals that stand at the heart of sport. Especially for the young around the globe, football has always been more than a joy: it is at the same time an inspiration and aspiration. Thanks to its incomparable outreach, it is the best medium to promote global peace as well as the value of fair, healthy competition and teamwork.
By reducing its image to that of a fraudulent financial transaction, FIFA’s leadership has done football and sport in general a great disservice. The enquiry must only be the beginning. The Youth of the European People’s Party calls on FIFA’s president Sepp Blatter to immediately step down and assist the judicial authorities to complete the investigation.
