Sepp Blatter
British comedian known as Lee Nelson (unseen) throws banknotes at FIFA President Sepp Blatter as he arrives for a news conference after the Extraordinary FIFA Executive Committee Meeting at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland July 20, 2015. World football's troubled governing body FIFA will vote for a new president, to replace Sepp Blatter, at a special congress to be held on February 26 in Zurich, the organisation said on Monday. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

A British protester took the stage on Monday’s FIFA press conference in Zurich after showering Sepp Blatter with fake money. Swiss police officers quickly nabbed the protester, who was identified as British comedian and prankster Simon Brodkins, also known as Lee Nelson.

Brodkin came into the press conference with a handful of bank notes and dressed with a patch of North Korea flag on his suit. The prankster hurled the money into the air towards Blatter’s seat before shouting “this is for North Korea 2026” obviously mocking FIFA’s controversial World Cup bid, which gave Russia and Qatar the rights to host the world tournament in 2018 and 2022 respectively as reported by Sydney Moring Herald. After the incident, Brodkin took social media platform Twitter to post a photo of himself and a message about his successful stunt in FIFA’s headquarters.

"Excited to be at FIFA meeting Sepp Blatter to secure the #NorthKorea2026 World Cup,” Brodkin said on one of his Twitter accounts according to ABC.

Blatter was clearly shaken with the comedian’s act of protest and was in a panicky voice when he called the security to pick up Brodkin. The Swiss president, who now in his fifth-term as head of FIFA, left the auditorium for 10 minutes insisting that the mockery has “nothing to do with football.” After returning to start his press conference, the 79-year-old Blatter retained his composure, but was clearly agitated in the event he described as “a lack of education.”

The press conference addressed the voting schedule for the next leader of FIFA, which will be held on February 26. Blatter confirmed that he will not be a candidate in the election and declared that “FIFA will have a new president.” He explained that his decision to qui in June was to help the world football’s governing body while it was under attack by allegations and controversies.

“There was pressure coming from different groups, attacking FIFA. I had to do something for FIFA, not for me. My mission now is to defend the institution (of) FIFA. I can defend myself. I don’t need help. But FIFA (does),” Blatter said as noted by Arab News.

FIFA has been involved in a series of corruption scandals wherein 14 current and former FIFA officials and sports marketing executives were charged by the US Department of Justice for money laundering and fraud.

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Video courtesy: Youtube/Sky News

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