Sepp Blatter remains sharp-eyed, moving effortlessly between humorous anecdotes and cutting attacks.
As he nears his 90th birthday this March, the former head of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has lost none of his verve.
“I love the Montreal Canadiens. I even feel a little bit Canadian myself,” he said. “I’ve even been to see the Canadiens at the Forum.”
Despite his fragile health, Blatter agreed to meet with Radio-Canada for nearly an hour and a half last week in the hills overlooking Lake Zurich, above the Swiss city where FIFA is headquartered.
Blatter served as general secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation before holding several key positions at FIFA for nearly half a century, including the presidency from 1998 to 2015.
His fall from grace was as public as it was brutal. On May 27, 2015, Swiss police arrested half a dozen high-ranking officials from the organization, suspected of pocketing millions in bribes linked to World Cup hosting rights and broadcast deals.
That same day, the U.S. Department of Justice denounced “racketeering conspiracy,” “money laundering,” and “a culture of corruption” within soccer’s world governing body led by Blatter, who had just been elected to a fifth consecutive term. He was forced to step down just a few days later.
“The Americans are bad losers,” he snapped during an interview with Radio-Canada, referring to the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar over the United States, which had been seen as the heavy favourite.
It was a decision that stunned the global sports community and triggered the “FIFA Gate” scandal.
That marked the beginning of the end for Blatter — even if, more than a decade later, the patriarch emerged unscathed from all criminal proceedings targeting him.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, U.S. President Donald Trump, and FIFA president Gianni Infantino, at the World Cup draw on Dec. 5, 2025, in Washington. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
‘Crumbs’ for Canada
In June and July, Canada and Mexico will each host 13 World Cup games, compared to 78 for the United States, which will organize every game from the quarterfinals onward.
“It’s not right,” Blatter said. “By putting the three together, one would have thought they would have roughly the same share of the pie.” He added that such a disparity “is not in the spirit of developing football.”
Canada deserved to have a World Cup one day. But instead of a one-third, one-third, one-third split, three-quarters were given to the United States.–
For the first time, 48 teams have been invited (up from 32 in previous editions).
“It’s not good,” said Blatter, who is opposed to this reform of the competition. “And playing in three countries is even worse — especially since two of those countries are receiving nothing but crumbs.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino presented the FIFA Peace Prize to Donald Trump on Dec. 5, 2025. (Jia Haocheng – Pool/Getty Images)
In his view, U.S. dominance in organizing the event stems from the “so-called friendship between [U.S. President Donald] Trump and [Gianni] Infantino,” his successor at the helm of FIFA. “That changed the game for the World Cup,” Blatter said, before throwing his hands up in exasperation at the mention of the Peace Prize awarded to the U.S. president this past December.
“We have never seen anything like it; it’s simply not possible,” he said, his voice dropping to a grave tone. “We play for peace. It is not up to [FIFA] to give out a Peace Prize. Football is a social, cultural and grassroots event.”
Nobody stood up to say we should stop this circus. This prize was awarded without any internal consultation at FIFA.– Sepp Blatter, former FIFA president
“Turning football into politics — because that is largely what is happening now — is, for me, incomprehensible,” Blatter said, before taking another sip of coffee.
Sepp Blatter welcomed Radio-Canada to a restaurant overlooking Zurich, Switzerland. (Marc Aderghal/Radio-Canada)
World Cup is a ‘slot machine’
Despite largely contributing to FIFA’s commercial and financial takeoff — marked by record revenues year after year — Blatter said the organization is going too far. He pointed to the hundreds of dollars being charged for 2026 World Cup tickets, a move that has sparked outrage among fans worldwide.
“It’s money, money, money,” he said, comparing the event to “a slot machine.” “Those two [Trump and Infantino] are there to ensure the World Cup generates the greatest possible profit. But that was never the goal of a World Cup.”
In late January, in a rare virtual appearance on social media, Blatter quoted — in both French and English — a message from a prominent Swiss anti-corruption lawyer urging fans to “stay away from the United States.” Blatter is standing his ground.
“In this World Cup, the great profiteer will be the United States, but not the spectators,” he said.
The U.S. president has already banned or restricted entry to the U.S. for fans from several qualified countries, including Haiti. “In principle, a World Cup should not be organized in a country that does not grant visas [to everyone],” he added.
It is painful to see what has become of the football we created.–
“There is a defamatory policy in the United States against anything foreign. It’s only ‘America first, America first.’ And it’s sad. It’s sad for the social and cultural value of football,” he said.
Still, the soon-to-be nonagenarian dismisses the idea of a boycott by national teams, which “has never yielded a positive result, especially not in sports.”
“Those who are absent are in the wrong,” he said, even as elected officials — namely in France and Germany — have already raised the possibility.
In Zurich, a protester showered the FIFA president Sepp Blatter with fake dollars on July 20, 2015, as the organization was embroiled in a massive corruption scandal. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
Blatter criticizes FIFA ‘dictatorship’
Blatter is adamant that the organization has devolved since his tumultuous exit in 2015.
“FIFA first changed for the worse, and then from bad to worse,” he said. “Now, it’s worse than it ever was.”
Describing the organization as a “total dictatorship,” Blatter contrasted the internal discord of his presidency with the current climate.
While there were once “fights” within the executive committee, he argues that today’s officials “have handcuffs on them,” and are silenced by a culture of backroom deals.
“Everywhere, to silence people, they are given money or a promotion,” the former leader said.
Several former high-ranking officials and FIFA experts interviewed by Radio-Canada echoed the sentiment.
FIFA declined to respond to Blatter’s allegations when contacted by Radio-Canada. However, sources within the organization have said privately that soccer’s world governing body has achieved greater “financial transparency” since Gianni Infantino took the helm.
Now, Blatter says, there is only radio silence — a refusal to push back even as the U.S. president threatens to pull games from host cities led by Democratic mayors.
Introducing the president of the United States into World Cup affairs is the worst thing that has happened to FIFA. And there is no opposition to it.–
“Why don’t we stand up? I am asking [FIFA members] to stand up, to say that this is not right. We still have time to do something,” Blatter said.
Steadying himself with a cane as he prepared to leave, Blatter was asked whether he plans to attend the tournament himself.
“Only in Canada or Mexico,” he said smiling. “My daughter would like to go to Canada. She is trying to find tickets.”
Sepp Blatter was definitively acquitted by the Swiss courts on March 25, 2025, in a case involving a suspicious payment to his former adviser, Michel Platini. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
