And thus ends the most bizarre week of Sepp Blatter’s life since the time Tim Roth shadowed him for seven days and accidentally changed the combination code of his Samsonsite briefcase.
Amid the flood of bribery and racketeering claims against FIFA and Sepp Blatter’s decision to stand down as president, but hole out in his office to fight corruption, came a story that defied belief. In fact, it laughed in the face of convention.
Spanish newspaper El Mundo, on Thursday, published a story that spread like wildfire across the globe. It had nothing to do with World Cup bribes, preposterous movies or laughing at Ireland’s wishes to be team 33 at the 2010 staging of the tournament.
The paper declared that model and actress Irina Shayk, who is now dating Cristiano Ronaldo, had had an affair with Blatter over six years ago.
The story was picked up by several hundred publications and websites the world over, with The Times even running a pictorial piece on its front cover.
On Saturday, however, a representative for Shayk confirmed to New York Daily Post’s ‘Page Six’ column that the claims were balderdash. They stated:
‘The rumors regarding an alleged romantic and/or personal affair with Sepp Blatter by El Mundo . . . are a pathetic attempt at defaming Ms. Shayk and are absolutely not true. We have no intentions of further acknowledging these allegations as they are wholly unfounded.’
Another rumour put to bed. Carry on world.
