Does FIFA President Sepp Blatter have ‘a big target on his back’?

Seven FIFA officials have been placed in handcuffs and two more are the subject of Interpol wanted persons alerts, and while the world waits for the next domino to fall in the largest scandal to rock soccer’s governing body, a question looms.

Will FIFA President Sepp Blatter go down?

“It was clear from (U.S.) Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s famous press conference; it is clear from how this investigation is unfolding that Sepp Blatter has a big target on his back,” CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said. “He is under investigation to be criminally prosecuted. There’s no doubt about that.”

Swiss authorities have said Blatter is not part of their investigation into the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, but U.S. officials told CNN this week that the FBI corruption investigation into FIFA’s president continues.

Lynch, for her part, declined to provide any specifics on Blatter during her May 27 news conference, but asked if the probe had cleared Blatter, she did not say no.

“I’m not able to comment further on Mr. Blatter’s status,” she replied.

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This was after she had announced a 47-count indictment alleging that 14 defendants had enriched themselves for a generation at the expense of the Beautiful Game.

Blatter was not among those charged and has denied any wrongdoing.

Ties that bind

The defendants included FIFA officials certain to be close to Blatter, including two FIFA vice presidents, a former vice president, executive committee members, heads of soccer’s national associations and current and former presidents of the game’s regional confederations.

The former vice president in the bunch, Jack Warner, who once helmed the Caribbean Football Union and CONCACAF, the confederation governing the Caribbean and North and Central America, could be the linchpin in the U.S. government’s case as he’sindicated a willingness to roll on Blatter.

In a rambling political ad that aired in his native Trinidad and Tobago, where he is a member of Parliament, Warner fired a shot at the United States – not his first – implying that the Americans are being vindictive because they lost the rights to host the 2022 World Cup to a Muslim nation, Qatar, and “as far as they are concerned Muslims are not important.”

In the same breath, curiously, the former soccer bureaucrat said he had prepared documents on FIFA’s transactions, including checks and corroborated statements. The documents are now in “respected hands,” he said, and “there can be no turning back.”

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Promising to “no longer keep secrets,” Warner said he “also will give them my knowledge of vital transactions at FIFA including, but not limited to Sepp Blatter. I have been there for 30 consecutive years. I was a heartbeat away from Blatter.”

The ad was titled “Jack Warner: The Gloves Are Off,” indicative of a man who knows he’s in for a fight against an autonomous governing body that tallied $338 million in net profits from 2011 to 2014, has $1.5 billion in reserves and has survived its share of scandals.

He closed his ad, saying, “Blatter knows why he fell, and if there’s one other person who knows, I do.”

In the Justice Department announcement last month, it was revealed that Warner’s sons,Daryll and Daryan,each pleaded guilty in 2013 to charges, including wire fraud and structuring of financial transactions. Their convictions were unsealed last month.

Both have cooperated with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, as has Chuck Blazer, who was general secretary of CONCACAF when Jack Warner was president. Blazer detailed a series of bribes paid to FIFA executives ahead of the 1998 and 2010 World Cups.

A re-election before resigning

Blatter, who has said he will remain in office until at least December, the earliest point at which FIFA can organize a vote to elect his successor, defiantly stood for re-election only last week.

Michel Platini, president of UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, said he asked Blatter to step down the day before the election, but Blatter told him, “It’s too late.” Blatter then took to a stage at FIFA’s World Congress in Zurich, Switzerland, to blame FIFA corruption on “a few” and call for their punishment as FIFA rebuilds its reputation.

Four days later, though, The New York Times released a bombshell.

Citing U.S. officials and others briefed on the case, the newspaper reported Monday that an anonymous “high-ranking FIFA official”whom prosecutors implicated in an alleged $10 million bribe had been identified as FIFA Secretary General Jér?me Valcke, Blatter’s top lieutenant.

According to the indictment, South Africa was willing to pay $10 million to the Caribbean Football Union “to support the African diaspora” in exchange for Warner’s and two other conspirators’ votes to put the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, instead of Morocco. The South African bid committee has denied any impropriety in the payment.

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The official in early 2008 “caused” three payments totaling $10 million to “accounts held in the name of CFU and CONCACAF, but controlled by the defendant Jack Warner,” the indictment alleges. If The Times’ sources are correct, this is as close as the money trail has been to Blatter’s door.

Valcke has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and he has not been accused in any investigation. FIFA told the Times that a now-deceased former finance committee chairman authorized the payment.

Still, the day after Valcke was linked to the payment, and four days after winning re-election when Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein bowed out of the contest, Blatter stepped down.

“While I have a mandate from the membership of FIFA, I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of football – the fans, the players, the clubs, the people who live, breathe and love football as much as we all do at FIFA,” he said, vowing to devote his remaining time in office to reform.

Valcke may be the key

Simon Chadwick, a professor of sport business strategy and marketing at Coventry University, said the embattled 79-year-old’s statement appears to be little more than a sleight of hand.

“At first glance the tipping point for Blatter’s resignation would seem to have been the disclosure of a letter sent by the South African Football Association (SAFA) to FIFA secretary general Jér?me Valcke,” Chadwick wrote in a Wednesday column. “FIFA initially claimed Valcke had never been in receipt of such a letter, but the appearance of the document clearly showed otherwise.”

FIFA President Sepp Blatter speaks during a press conference at the headquarters of the world's football governing body in Zurich on June 2, 2015

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The letter is important because it indicates SAFA President Molefi Oliphant told Valcke to instruct FIFA to make the $10 million payment to Warner and deduct the payment that FIFA had earmarked for South Africa’s World Cup, the professor wrote.

“Sepp Blatter had always claimed that he was unaware of any corrupt activity taking place inside FIFA. The problem is Valcke has been his deputy and a trusted adviser. If Valcke is under suspicion, then Blatter himself is becoming increasingly exposed to scrutiny. And with the FBI circling and world opinion turning against him, Blatter has recently been running out of options, excuses and the loving support of his fellow FIFA family members,” Chadwick wrote

If the feds want to question Blatter, don’t expect him to divulge much, CNN’s Toobin said.

“If Sepp Blatter gets the advice of any good lawyer in the United States, he will certainly be told, ‘Don’t say anything at all,’ ” he said.

But observers can expect more indictments, and U.S. authorities will do their best to convince anyone they arrest to dish dirt on Blatter and his cohorts, Toobin said.

“More people will be charged. I don’t know if Sepp Blatter will be charged, but certainly other people will be charged, and the way criminal investigations work is they flip people. They get people on the lower levels to talk about people higher up, and the target is clearly Sepp Blatter at this point.”

A controversial leader —

FIFA president Sepp Blatter's 2011 remarks on racism in football -- that on-pitch abuse can be solved with a handshake -- were just one of a series of controversial quotes to be attributed to the head of world soccer.

Tighter shorts for women? —

In 2004, Blatter -- seen here with Brazil star Marta -- angered female footballers with his suggestion for how the women's game could be made more appealing. "They could, for example, have tighter shorts," said the Swiss. "Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball."

Football slavery? —

In 2008 Blatter was ridiculed after defending the desire of Manchester United's highly-paid star Cristiano Ronaldo to join Real Madrid. He said: "I think in football there's too much modern slavery in transferring players or buying players here and there, and putting them somewhere." In 2013 he had to apologize to Ronaldo after a bizarre impersonation of the Madrid star.

Goal-line technology U-turn —

Blatter performed a U-turn on the use of goal-line technology and apologized to the English Football Association after an incorrect decision during the 2010 World Cup. Despite replays showing a shot from England's Frank Lampard had clearly crossed the line in the last-16 clash with Germany, the goal was not awarded.

Excusez-moi? —

Blatter had earlier refused to take action when Thierry Henry's blatant handball denied the Republic of Ireland a place at the 2010 World Cup finals. Even the France striker admitted the fairest solution was to replay the playoff match.

"Refrain from sexual activity" —

In December 2010, Blatter was heavily criticized for suggesting gay football fans should "refrain from sexual activity" if they wished to attend the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal. Blatter later apologized and said it had not been his intention to offend or discriminate.

Winter World Cup? —

Blatter clashed with fellow members of FIFA's executive committee when he suggested the 2022 FIFA World Cup could be played in January to avoid high temperatures in Qatar. He said the move would "protect the players and also the spectators." Qatar flatly rejected Blatter's suggestion at the time, but FIFA is now reviewing whether to adopt it.

Rotten eggs? —

In December 2010 Blatter insisted that FIFA was "not corrupt ... there are no rotten eggs" despite two of his executive committee members -- Amos Adamu, pictured, and Reynald Temarii -- being suspended for accepting bribes in the lead-up to the vote for awarding hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. He called England "bad losers" after losing out to Russia.

Best of enemies? —

Blatter stood unopposed for re-election in July after his former ally Mohamed bin Hammam quit the race days before the ballot after being accused of offering cash for votes. The Qatari, a top FIFA official, has been banned from football.

Charges dropped —

Blatter faced a criminal investigation after winning the 2002 FIFA presidential election, being accused of financial mismanagement by 11 former members of the ruling body's executive committee, including his 1998 election rival Lennart Johansson, right. However, prosecutors dropped the case due to a lack of evidence.

We need to talk about Kevin —

In January 2013, AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng led his team off the pitch after being subjected to racist chanting. His actions were hailed across the world. But Blatter was more cautious about the issue, refusing to support the move. "I don't think you can run away, because eventually you can run away if you lose a match," he said in an interview with a newspaper in the UAE. "This issue is a very touchy subject, but I repeat there is zero tolerance of racism in the stadium; we have to go against that." Others, like AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi, have disagreed with him. "I am of the opposite view (to Blatter)," said Berlusconi. "I thanked and congratulated my players for their decision to leave the field."

Sepp Blatter: A controversial leader

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Complete coverage of the FIFA controversy

CNN’s Laura Smith-Spark and Christiane Amanpour contributed to this report.