A former U.S. soccer star Hope Solo has accused former FIFA President Sepp Blatter of sexually assaulting her in 2013 during the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony.
“Sepp Blatter grabbed my ass, it was a few years ago at the Ballon d’Or ceremony just before I got on stage,” Solo said.
She said that sexual harassment at the hands of male officials was a common problem in women’s football.
“I have seen this all of my career and I would like to see more athletes speak about their experiences,” said Solo.
“It’s out of control, not just in Hollywood but everywhere,” she added in reference to the firestorm of sexual harassment allegations in entertainment, politics and sport since the scandal involving Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein unfolded.
Solo, a former goalkeeper of the U.S. women’s national team, told a Portuguese newspaper Expresso, that Blatter grabbed her buttocks as they prepared to take the stage for the award.
A representative for Solo confirmed to Associated Press that the report was accurate and said she had no further comment on the matter.
However Blatter, 81, told AFP the accusations were “absurd and ridiculous”.
Blatter, who was suspended from office and banned from soccer for six years following allegations of a widespread corruption scandal that came to light in 2015, said that claims by Solo that he had grabbed her backside were “absurd”.
Blatter was president of FIFA from 1998 to 2015 until he was banned for corruption.
The Swiss official ran FIFA with an iron hand and oversaw a period in which football’s premier tournament was hosted in Asia for the first time and he paved the way for it to be held in Qatar in 2022.
After the corruption allegations emerged, FIFA banned Blatter from the sport for eight years, a term later reduced to six years after appeal.
Blatter told AFP last month that he would attend next year’s World Cup finals in Russia at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin.
