Sepp Blatter rises at dawn and goes to sleep 18 hours later. During his waking hours FIFA's 79-year-old president fulfills his duty as the most powerful man in world soccer, meeting the presidents, princes, dictators and oligarchs who seek reflected glory from the world's most popular game.
Critics and allies alike agree on one thing: Blatter is a consummate politician who has survived 17 years of scandal, accusations of corruption and the rise and fall of internal political challengers.
But, earlier this week, just as Blatter was preparing for what was likely to be the coronation for his fifth term as President at FIFA's annual congress, a dawn raid at an upscale hotel on the shores of Lake Zurich shattered that complacency.
Nine FIFA officials, as well as five sports media and marketing executives, were charged by U.S. prosecutors Wednesday over alleged kickbacks of more than $150 million dating back over 20 years.
The arrests came at the behest of the FBI, which who had been investigating FIFA executives since 2011. A few hours later, the FBI's director, James Comey, stood at a lectern and delivered a withering assessment of the corruption at the heart of the game.
Accusations of corruption, kick backs, bribes and villainy have long been circulating about FIFA, but it took an FBI investigation, and the threat of jail, to break through the wall of silence.
It is, by far, the biggest scandal to face world soccer and to face FIFA; an organization that Blatter built in his image, and which is imprinted into his marrow.
Yet, as the scandal dominates headlines in every corner of the globe, many questions remain. How has Blatter managed to stay in power? Why does he court such loyalty and revulsion? And, most importantly, can he survive his biggest battle yet?
The "Uwe Seeler of Upper Valais"
Sepp Blatter was born in 1939 in to a working class family in the small, majority German speaking Swiss town of Visp.
Blatte
r was himself a promising young footballer, playing for FC Visp in Switzerland's top league, which was then all-amateur.
In one hagiographic profile of Blatter's playing days in FIFA's in house weekly magazine, he was described as a "feared top-flight striker" who had earned the nickname the "Uwe Seeler of Upper Valais," after the West German international striker.
It also detailed how Blatter was once the Valais sprint champion in 1956, having run the 100 meters in 11.7 seconds.
A succession of administrative jobs followed, including general secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation. After a stint at the watch making company Longines, he joined FIFA in 1975.
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