Zurich (AFP)

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, forced to resign in 2015 following a huge corruption scandal, stigmatizes, in an interview with AFP, the "lack of transparency" of his successor Gianni Infantino , who must be re-elected on June 5 at the Congress of the instance in Paris.

Blatter, 83, FIFA's president between 1998 and 2015, is still facing unfair management proceedings before the Swiss courts, including a controversial payment of 2 million Swiss francs to Michel Platini.

Question: Your successor Gianni Infantino has given up playing World Cup-2022 in Qatar with 48 teams. Was the idea good originally?

Answer: "Fifa has tried to play a role that is not his." In geopolitics, Fifa may from time to time be an actor, but become + director of show +, which he has tried to do with the World Cup at 48 (instead of 32 teams, ed) and the expansion of the World Club, it has nothing to do with the basic principles of Fifa (...) It was not necessary to set foot in there and say + we will play because of the friends of Saudi Arabia who are good guarantors for billions of dollars for a new development, not Fifa, but football +. We do not need that ".

Q: How do you rate Gianni Infantino? Since his election in 2016, has he restored the credibility of Fifa?

A: "On the proposal of 48 teams for the World-2022 in Qatar, where was the transparency from the beginning? On this famous offer of 20 billion euros (note: coming from an unidentified fund, for the Coupe du club world) (...) there is no transparency, and that is what he preached: Gianni, whom I knew as UEFA's general secretary, was one of those that slowed down the implementation of the reform package that was agreed at the 2011 convention, and we decided to control the integrity of the members.Who was the first to speak? Infantino, who said: We are for control integrity but not at home, we will never accept that a Fifa committee controls the integrity of the members from home + ".

Q: FIFA is pushing for a 24-team World Club Cup starting in 2021. Is this credible against UEFA's opposition?

A: "I must admit, mea culpa, that club competitions are not the responsibility of FIFA, it is the national federations and confederations that organize them, and the first club competition in the year 2000 in Brazil. (with 8 teams, nldr), it was a first attempt and we saw that it did not work, then we narrowed the format.It is not in the specifications of Fifa.This project ( d'Infantino, ed) is an amplification of an already heavy international calendar. "

Q: Infantino is facing charges over his relationship with two Swiss prosecutors, allowing him to obtain inside information on certain cases. Have the Swiss judicial authorities been fairly firm in your opinion?

A: "On the relations between Infantino and the Valais prosecutor (Rinaldo Arnold), one of his friends (the case was filed by the courts, ed), the Fifa Ethics Commission should have opened an investigation. relations went so far that Infantino wanted to hire him as head of the legal department of FIFA (...) What happened between Infantino and the prosecutor of Valais, it is a situation so obvious (...) It was good to get something politically, so it's a question with a big question mark: As for Attorney General Lauber (under a disciplinary investigation, ed), there was a meeting (with Infantino, ed.) Where even the Attorney General said + this 3rd meeting took place but I do not remember anymore + And what is curious is that the others who participated in the meeting do not remember it Neither is it + amnesia general in Switzerland +, it's still curious ... "

Interviewed by Eric BERNAUDEAU

? 2019 AFP