On the evening of November 10, famous US goalkeeper Hope solo posted a shocking information. She accused former FIFA President Sepp Blatter of sexually harassing her at the 2013 Ballon d'Or awards ceremony.
Responding to Portugal's Expresso newspaper, Hope solo said that Blatter had "disrespected her body" many times during the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony 4 years ago.
"Before he and I presented this award to Abby Wambach, Sepp had a few actions that touched my body.
At that time, I was really shocked by what he did. However, in front of me, it was a title to give to my teammates Abby, so I temporarily pretended to be gone without knowing anything. I just focus on doing my job well at that time," Hope solo shared.
According to Hope solo, the reason she had to hide this for 4 years was because she was worried that women's voices in sports were not valued too much. The former US Open goalkeeper waited until Blatter's influence was at its bottom to dare to make this difficult matter public.
Hope solo also hopes that women need to have more privileges like men in sports. From there, the voice of women in the playground that was thought to be only for men will be raised. Thereby, behaviors like blaming Blatter were also reduced.
Sepp Blatter has resigned as FIFA President since 2015 after 17 years in office with many honors but also full of scandals. Among the troubles Blatter was involved in, the bribery and arranging the draw for the World Cup host was the most prominent. Fans still cannot forget the image of the powerful man who was once thrown a whole stack of money at the face by comedian Lee Nelson at a FIFA meeting.
Currently, the FIFA President is Gianni Infantino, an Italian national. Infantino was previously UEFA Secretary General.
