The pressure on FIFA president Sep Blatter to resign has increase after four major sponsors (Visa, Coca Cola, McDonald’s and Budwesier) publicly called for the 79 year old to step down in the face of the corruption crisis facing the world body.
The non US major sponsors of FIFA- sportswear giant Adidas, car major Hyundai and oil company Gazprom have so far not followed the lead of their American counterparts
This is what Coca Cola had to say in its statement
For the benefit of the game the Coca-Cola company is calling for Fifa president Joseph Blatter to step down immediately so that a credible and sustainable reform process can begin in earnest.
Every day that passes, the image and reputation of Fifa continues to tarnish. Fifa needs comprehensive and urgent reform and that can only be accomplished through a truly independent approach
The interesting bit about the four sponsors is that they are all US companies, and they were themselves allegedly under pressure to take a stand following the Department of Justice’s claims earlier this year of a “World Cup fraud”.
McDonalds and Anheuser-Busch InBev (the parent company of Budweiser also issued similar statements)
McDonald’s statement
It would be in the best interest of the game for Fifa president Sepp Blatter to step down immediately so that the reform process can proceed with the credibility that is needed
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s statement
It would be appropriate for Mr Blatter to step down as we believe his continued presence to be an obstacle in the reform process
Visa’s statement
no meaningful reform can be made under Fifa’s existing leadership
Blatter meanwhile “respectfully disagreed” with Coca Cola’s stance, and said he would not resign
While Coca-Cola is a valued sponsor of Fifa, Mr Blatter respectfully disagrees with its position and believes firmly that his leaving office now would not be in the best interest of Fifa nor would it advance the process of reform and therefore, he will not resign
Adidas, Visa, Coca-Cola, Gazprom and Hyundai are top level partners of the organisation while Budweiser and McDonald’s are second tier partners.