FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s World Cup travel plans up in the air

EDMONTON – FIFA president Sepp Blatter may not be coming to Canada for the final of the Women’s World Cup after all.

When FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke cancelled his plans to come to the opening of the tournament, a FIFA spokesman responded to a question about his schedule by saying: “Future travel plans will be confirmed in due course.”

“That said, please note that the FIFA President plans to attend the final,” the spokesman continued.

That has since changed, apparently.

“The latest I can inform you is only that the future travel plans of the FIFA President will be confirmed in due course,” a FIFA spokesman said on the eve of the tournament.

Blatter did offer a pre-game tweet.

“In one hour, the 7th @FIFAWWC starts in Edmonton. Good Luck to all 24 teams,” he said.

FIFA has been rocked by a series of corruption allegations in recent days. Blatter was re-elected president only to announce days after that he plans to step down.

FIFA said Valcke, the No. 2 man in the world governing body of soccer, had cancelled his travel plans to attend to “matters at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich.”

The World Cup runs through July 5 in six Canadian cities.