Sepp Blatter charity football tourney still on
Despite a deepening corruption scandal at Fifa, an annual charity event carrying the outgoing president Sepp Blatter's name will go ahead, organizers said on Thursday.
German great Franz Beckenbauer, who has refused to criticize Blatter and was a Fifa executive between 2007-2011, took part in the last edition.
European football head Michel Platini, now one of Blatter's fiercest critics, has also been a guest at the amateur charity event.
The tournament takes place at Ulrichen, close to where Blatter hails from.
It is due to be held on August 22nd.
Blatter was reelected to the head of Fifa late last month in Zurich for a fifth term as president, only three days after 14 Fifa officials and partners were charged as part of a corruption investigation led by US authorities.
But four days after that Blatter announced his resignation.
According to Swiss media, he has been in a relaxed mood despite the scandal which has engulfed the body he has headed since 1998.
In other developments, Blatter has hired former US federal prosecutor Richard Cullen to represent him as the ongoing corruption investigation engulfs football's governing body.
The secretary general of Fifa, Jérôme Valcke, has in turn retained another American lawyer, Barry Berke, a Fifa spokesman told AFP.
Cullen, 67, was a federal attorney in Virginia and is currently the head of the high-powered firm of McGuireWoods LLP, which is based in the US state, and has offices in London and Brussels.
He is also a close associate of FBI director James Comey and worked for Tiger Woods's ex-wife Elin Nordegren when the golf superstar's marriage was falling apart.
New York-based Berke once represented banking giants JP Morgan Chase after the global financial crisis.
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German great Franz Beckenbauer, who has refused to criticize Blatter and was a Fifa executive between 2007-2011, took part in the last edition.
European football head Michel Platini, now one of Blatter's fiercest critics, has also been a guest at the amateur charity event.
The tournament takes place at Ulrichen, close to where Blatter hails from.
It is due to be held on August 22nd.
Blatter was reelected to the head of Fifa late last month in Zurich for a fifth term as president, only three days after 14 Fifa officials and partners were charged as part of a corruption investigation led by US authorities.
But four days after that Blatter announced his resignation.
According to Swiss media, he has been in a relaxed mood despite the scandal which has engulfed the body he has headed since 1998.
In other developments, Blatter has hired former US federal prosecutor Richard Cullen to represent him as the ongoing corruption investigation engulfs football's governing body.
The secretary general of Fifa, Jérôme Valcke, has in turn retained another American lawyer, Barry Berke, a Fifa spokesman told AFP.
Cullen, 67, was a federal attorney in Virginia and is currently the head of the high-powered firm of McGuireWoods LLP, which is based in the US state, and has offices in London and Brussels.
He is also a close associate of FBI director James Comey and worked for Tiger Woods's ex-wife Elin Nordegren when the golf superstar's marriage was falling apart.
New York-based Berke once represented banking giants JP Morgan Chase after the global financial crisis.
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