I’m no longer suffering from FIFA ban, says Blatter

Former FIFA President Joseph Blatter on Thursday said he was no longer suffering as a result of the corruption scandals which led to his six-year ban from football.

He said this in Zurich, Switzerland capital, at the presentation of his new biography

“I did suffer, Christ’s Passion was also suffering, but I am no longer suffering,” he said.

“I can live with all because I have a clear conscience, I have done nothing wrong.”

Blatter, 80, was banned by FIFA’s ethics committee over breaches concerning a “disloyal payment” of two million Swiss francs (about 2 million dollars) made to UEFA President Michel Platini in 2011.

However, the former FIFA president, who appealed against his ban at the court of arbitration for sport (CAS), described it as “conspiracy” by the US justice authorities

Blatter, in his book ‘Mission and Passion Football’, said his successor, the former UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, once applied “without success” for a job at FIFA’s legal department.

According to the book, Blatter was also asked by the Swiss foreign ministry in 2015 to mediate with Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza over his decision to run for another term.

Nkurunziza’s decision had sparked months of unrest in Burundi.

Blatter was quoted as saying he offered Nkurunziza an ambassadorial role with FIFA in exchange for dropping plans to run for a third term, but nothing came of it.