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Big money finally talks in call for FIFA change, but will Blatter actually walk?

Big money finally talks in call for FIFA change, but will Blatter actually walk?

The body blows just kept on coming for long-time FIFA despot Sepp Blatter. First, Coca-Cola demanded his resignation. And then, within minutes, McDonald's did the same. An hour had not yet passed until Visa came next and, finally, Budweiser tagged along.

In the slow endgame of Blatter's four-decade stint at soccer's global governing body, the last 17 of which have come as president, it was a second disastrous Friday in a row. For him, that is. The rest of the soccer world rejoiced.

Just a week prior, the Swiss Office of the Attorney General announced that it had opened criminal proceedings into the 79-year-old Swiss's dealings at FIFA, suspecting him of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation of funds. And now the sponsors, the engine of FIFA's churning money train, were turning on him.

"Every day that passes, the image and reputation of FIFA continues to tarnish," Coca Cola wrote in a statement. "FIFA needs comprehensive and urgent reform, and that can only be accomplished through a truly independent approach."

"The events of recent weeks have continued to diminish the reputation of FIFA and public confidence in its leadership," McDonald's echoed. "We believe it would be in the best interest of the game for FIFA President Sepp Blatter to step down immediately so that the reform process can proceed with the credibility that is needed."

Visa and Budweiser called for Blatter's resignation as well.

Blatter responded to Coca Cola's statement with predictable defiance and obduracy. One of Blatter's lawyers put out a statement. "While Coca Cola is a valued sponsor of FIFA," it read, "Mr. Blatter respectfully disagrees with its position and believes firmly that his leaving office now would not be in the best interest of FIFA nor would it advance the process of reform and therefore, he will not resign."

Following a wide-ranging indictment by the FBI and the Department of Justice in late May, which swept up several high-ranking Blatter cronies, several of whom may be extradited to the United States, Blatter was reelected to a fourth term in office in a landslide. But four days later he announced that he would resign. That resignation is set for February, when an election will be held to anoint a successor – although Blatter has at times been vague on whether he will actually vacate his office or indeed run in the election again.

All the same, the vote of no confidence by the sponsors is significant. It has long been believed that only the companies providing FIFA with much of its bankroll – it is said to have several billion dollars in cash reserves – can prompt real change. The organization has been difficult to prosecute, after all, in spite of the best efforts of the Department of Justice and Swiss law enforcement. And even if a few heads roll, the culture of waste, decadence, corruption and graft is deeply entrenched.

At FIFA, as in most other organizations, the money is the tail that wags the dog. FIFA's sponsorship contracts were allegedly worth $1.5 billion for every four-year cycle. If that revenue is diluted and Blatter, or whatever successor might emerge, can't keep up the system of patronage that has handed the organization's top man absolute power, ruling it as opaquely and dishonestly as it has always been run would become a great deal harder.

Earlier this year, several major sponsors already pulled out of FIFA. Sony and Emirates didn't renew their contracts. And then Castrol, Continental Tyres and Johnson & Johnson followed suit. None of those companies openly alluded to FIFA's rapidly decaying reputation in explaining their decisions, but it wasn't hard to connect the dots as pressure from customers, fans and the press has slowly built.

With four more major sponsors still under contract going so far as to call for Blatter's head on Friday, his already faint hold on the last few months of his truncated final term could become untenable. Not even Blatter could be as tone-deaf as to think that he can hold on now.

While sponsors incurred some negativity by tolerating FIFA's continued insistence on covering itself in shame over the course of decades, the collateral damage to pulling out of its sponsorships is hefty. For all of FIFA's failures in governance and transparency, its flagship event, the World Cup, captures the world's attention and adoration like no other. There is simply no marketing, branding or advertising substitute for plastering your company's logo all over it.

Still, the sponsors have now grown sufficiently repulsed by the organization that they had voluntarily and expensively linked their names to that calling out its president publicly was considered the right and perhaps only move – even though he'd promised to leave just four months from now.

Ultimately, the slow undoing of Blatter is that even the people whom he has reliably enriched can't abide to stand by him anymore.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.