Sepp Blatter thinks FIFA can reform itself, but anti-corruption experts say an institution in that much trouble won't be able to clean itself up without an outsider.

The arrest of seven top soccer officials in Zurich and Blatter's resignation provide an opening for transforming what Transparency International's managing director Cobus de Swardt termed FIFA's "sordid empire of corruption."

But any change clashes with the reality of politics at FIFA: Its 209 members from Vanuatu to Venezuela, and the powerful executive committee are unlikely to act against their own entrenched power and privileges.