WHETHER he possesses a bottomless capacity for self-delusion or simply breathtaking cynicism, Sepp Blatter's performance at a press conference earlier this week was beyond parody. Asked whether recent corruption allegations meant that the governing body of the world's most popular game was in crisis, the Swiss 75-year-old president of FIFA, replied: “What is a crisis? Football is not in a crisis. We have just seen a beautiful Champions League final with Barcelona, with fair play. We are only in some difficulties. And they will be solved inside our family.” Mr Blatter's attempt to link the sublime skills of the European champions with the moral squalor of the outfit he has run for the past 13 years was true to form. His uncontested re-election (after the removal of his only rival, Qatar's Mohamed Bin Hammam, amid bribery charges) a couple of days later for a fourth four-year term was depressing for anyone who cares about the “beautiful game”.

Under Mr Blatter's predecessor, João Havelange, a wheeler-dealing Brazilian, FIFA became a mechanism for using revenues from the World Cup, the biggest sporting event on earth, to sustain a global network of patronage. Mr Blatter has honed the system as FIFA's revenues from broadcasting and marketing rights have multiplied to more than $4 billion over a four-year cycle. In the four years up to 2010, after its contribution to the costs of the World Cup in South Africa, FIFA made a profit of $631m and kept a handsome $707m for its own operating expenses, while dispensing $794m to its 208 grateful member football associations, many of them poor and dependent on FIFA's largesse. Each member association, regardless of its size, has one vote at FIFA's congress, which elects the president. The other 23 members of the executive committee that runs the organisation are chosen by the regional confederations. Few in what Mr Blatter nauseatingly refers to as the “football family” have any interest in challenging the status quo.

Thanks mainly to muck-raking British journalists, a deep culture of corruption within FIFA has been exposed. Last year two members of the executive committee were suspended for soliciting bribes from undercover reporters. This year, following the vote to give Russia the 2018 World Cup and the bizarre decision for the competition in 2022 to be hosted by tiny, hot but extremely rich Qatar, the allegations have mounted. First, a whistleblower who worked for the Qatar bid team alleged that two executive committee members were each paid $1.5m for their backing. Then Lord Triesman, one-time leader of England's 2018 bid, spoke of “improper and unethical” conduct by four more committee members. And last week, Chuck Blazer, an American FIFA bigwig, claimed two fellow members of the committee, Jack Warner and Mr Bin Hammam, had offered $40,000 bribes to Caribbean officials to vote against Mr Blatter. After both men were suspended, Mr Warner disclosed that he had received an e-mail from FIFA's general secretary, Jerome Valcke, saying that Qatar had “bought” the World Cup. Mr Valcke admits sending the e-mail but disputes Mr Warner's interpretation of it. All those accused deny any wrongdoing.

The goal needs some uprights

Mr Blatter says that he will reform the organisation. That seems, to put it mildly, improbable. Among the member football associations, England is pushing for change, but it has few friends. If the governments of the big European countries were to demand external regulation of FIFA's activities, it might have some impact. But Michel Platini, the French former footballer who leads UEFA, FIFA's European affiliate, is in line to succeed Mr Blatter and does not want to rock the boat.

That leaves two groups of people who could bring about change. Swiss parliamentarians could end the Zurich-based organisation's favourable tax treatment. They should do so unless it cleans itself up. Then there are the commercial sponsors, who pay a big chunk of FIFA's bills. They have shown steel before: after the Salt Lake City bidding scandal, the sponsors forced the International Olympic Committee to become more transparent. They should do so again, this time to get rid of Mr Blatter. Football deserves better than him.