Kelly: Reform at FIFA impossible as long as Blatter remains in charge

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Swiss police raided a luxury hotel in Zurich at dawn on Wednesday, pulling some of the world's most powerful sports executives from their beds and taking them to jail.

Within hours, the overarching target of the blitz – the Federation Internationale de Football Association – had managed to turn itself into both the victim and the hero.

"It is not a nice day, but it is a good day," communications director Walter de Gregorio told reporters, taking credit on FIFA's behalf for what he referred to as a "reform process." FIFA would later call itself the "injured party" in a release.

For decades, FIFA has staggered through a series of corruption scandals. It is finally facing a comprehensive criminal complaint. As she announced charges against nine current and former FIFA officials, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said soccer's governing body had turned the sport into "a criminal enterprise." All of those charged will face extradition.

However, a key name was missing – FIFA president Sepp Blatter. While American investigators have dealt the snake an embarrassing blow, the head remains intact.

Blatter's subordinates have become infamous for the boldness of their vice.

Lord David Triesman ran England's failed bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Four years ago, he explained how the shakedown worked to a U.K. parliamentary committee. Some FIFA voters wanted cash in exchange for support. Some asked for charitable donations for their home nations (the money to be funneled through them). Some wanted to arrange to purchase TV rights for various games or tournaments (again, the funds to go through them). Some were smart enough to leave the bribes vague. Some were not – one cheeky bastard asked for a knighthood.

The chilling thing was how casual the come-ons were. Everyone wanted something.

Triesman refused all comers. FIFA then refused England. The 2018 and 2022 World Cups went to Russia and Qatar. Swiss police have re-opened a stalled criminal investigation into those bids.

But despite a lot of tough talk, the current indictments refer mainly to kickbacks involving marketing rights, rather than future World Cups. The U.S. Department of Justice has hit a target, but it's nowhere close to a bull's eye.

The general public will not recognize any of the men arrested Wednesday. The most senior of them is FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb. He also runs Concacaf, which oversees soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean. All of the accused are replaceable functionaries.

Only Blatter really matters.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, he seemed unconcerned: "[W]e welcome the actions and the investigations by the U.S. and Swiss authorities and believe it will help reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken to root out any wrongdoing in football."

FIFA said it would go ahead with its annual congress this week, including an election that should see Blatter given a fifth term as president. His long-standing enemies in Europe have threatened a boycott, but they've tried to unseat him before – and always failed.

The current probe in the U.S. has been going on for years. It has already prised guilty pleas from several FIFA officials, notably former American soccer boss Chuck Blazer (a man with his own issues – he maintained a $6,000-a-month New York City apartment for his cats).

If U.S. officials had enough to get Blatter, they'd have gotten him. If there was a way to turn his confederates against him, they'd have been turned.

This all strongly suggests what has long been assumed – that Blatter is too clever to actively involve himself in the dirty dealings of his subordinates. That he has no personal greed. That he's satisfied with the power that comes as head of sport's most influential governing body. He leaves the grubby pocket-lining to other men.

Blatter joined FIFA in the mid-1970s, when the organization was run by European aristocrats. In 1998, he took control with a marked difference in his base of support. He rules with the backing of soccer's outsiders – African, Asian, Caribbean and Central American delegates. If you believe the law-enforcement narrative, Blatter did that by promising to turn a blind eye while they filled their boots.

Under his watch, FIFA has been repeatedly swamped by financial outrages involving his lieutenants. In an attempt to tamp down the controversies surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, FIFA commissioned an independent investigation.

When it came time to release the findings, FIFA instead made public a bowdlerized version written by its own in-house counsel. The original author – former U.S. prosecutor Michael Garcia – angrily disavowed the condensed version. On Wednesday, FIFA once again refused to release Garcia's report.

This sort of shamelessness typifies Blatter's regime. FIFA now claims to have wanted this investigation all along, despite years of stonewalling and denials. They wanted it so badly that a bunch of them are going to jail for it.

All but Blatter.

As long as he remains in charge, there is no impetus to adapt. Quite the contrary. Blatter built this edifice on a foundation of moral turpitude. There are no good people left to fight the bad. There are only grey men, too compromised to do anything.

Last week, Simon Kuper of The Financial Times compared Blatter to a very Swiss type – der Portier (the hotel concierge). Der Portier knows everyone. More importantly, he knows what they want. He insinuates himself into their lives, anticipating and fulfilling their needs. After a while, they cannot function without him.

Blatter has reduced FIFA's world to the hotel lobby, over which he is in charge. The surroundings have become shabby through abuse, but it still draws the best sort of crowd. They're happy to put up big money for an invite.

No matter how many of his factotums they arrest, as long as Blatter continues to control the guest list, nothing about FIFA's modus operandi requires adjustment.

It's not that they don't want to try a different way. Some very well might. The problem is that after nearly 20 years operating in the Blatter style, they don't know how to change.