"Just before Christmas, he had to go to the hospital to have his heart operated on," his daughter Corinne Blatter told Swiss media, adding that it was expected to be a routine operation.
- But then things became complicated and dangerous and he was put in an artificial coma for a week without being contactable, the daughter continues.
Blatter, 84, was infected with covid-19 in November without any serious symptoms.
At the time, a criminal investigation was underway into Blatter's financial activities as Fifa chief, a collaboration between Fifa and the Swiss authorities.
"He has been under a lot of pressure"
Corinne Blatter says that the various investigations of the father over the past five years have taken a heavy toll on him.
- I am not a doctor or specialist, but if you think about everything that my father has gone through the last five years, you can understand that he has been exposed to a lot of pressure.
Blatter is now recovering and showing small but clear progress and had to leave the intensive care unit last week.
Blatter was Fifa's manager from 1998, when he maneuvered out Lennart Johansson in the presidential election, until 2015 and has a scandal-ridden legacy.