Sepp Blatter

Joseph 'Sepp' Blatter (born March 10, 1936 in Visp, Wallis, Switzerland) is the current president of FIFA. He was elected on June 8, 1998, succeeding Dr. João Havelange (Brazil).

Education

Born in the Swiss town of Visp, he graduated from the Sion and St. Maurice colleges in Switzerland before gaining a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Economics from the Faculty of Law at Lausanne University.

Career

His long and varied career curriculum involves posts like Head of Public Relations of the Valaisan Tourist Board in his native Switzerland, General Secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation; as Director of Sports Timing and Public Relations of Longines S.A he was involved in the organization of the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. Since 1975 he has been working at FIFA as Technical Director (1975-1981), and General Secretary (1981-1998).

His election and victory over UEFA President Lennart Johansson were marked with controversy. His incumbency has been marked with rumors of financial irregularities and backroom dealings, culminating in 2002 with direct accusations of bribery made in the press by the Somali FA member Farra Ado of an offer of $100,000 to vote for Blatter. Although Blatter was re-elected in 2002 and remains in his post, many questions regarding his integrity remain unanswered.

In May 2006 British investigative reporter Andrew Jennings' book "Foul" (Harper Collins) caused controversy within the football world by detailing an alleged international cash-for-contracts scandal following the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner ISL, and revealed how some football officials have been urged to secretly repay the sweeteners they received. The book also exposed the blatant vote-rigging that went on behind closed doors in the fight for Sepp Blatter's continued control of FIFA.

Changes under Blatter

• The "silver goal" replaced the "golden goal" rule in extra time of play-off matches. Under the "golden goal" rule, the match ends immediately if one side scores in extra time. The "silver goal" rule, however, states that the match will end at the half-time period in extra time if one team is leading - otherwise the match will continue until the end of the extra time period. Some fans however may find that this makes the less exciting while others felt that it makes the game fairer. In addition, the position of the Sun in the sky and the wind direction may give the side attacking a certain end of the pitch the advantage with no opportunity for the other team to do the same in the second half (although the same situation would occur under the Golden goal rule). The rule was first applied in the Euro 2004 competition, but now it has been discontinued (along with golden goal) and all competitions have reverted to the traditional extra time rules (they must play the full amount of extra time no matter how many goals are scored).

• A rule change in World Cup 2002 (the 17th World Cup) which makes the current World Cup champion not automatically qualified for the next World Cup finals. Champions of all the 16 previous World Cup were automatically given a place in the next World Cup finals. The first champion forced to re-qualify was Brazil, the 2002 World Cup champion.

• National associations must now enforce immediate suspensions of all players sent off during a game, even if television replays offer compelling evidence of a player's innocence. Blatter insists that a referee's judgement must be seen as final and that mistakes are part of the game.

• Implementing rules for better morality in the game such as booking players who removed their shirts after scoring a goal starting in 2004. Blatter's rationale was that football is a global sport and thus the popular leagues must respect the sensibilities of conservative nations where their games are broadcast.

Criticism and praise

Since Blatter was elected president of FIFA, his many changes may have been seen as detrimental to the sport and opposed by some of the fans.

Some controversial topics revolving around Blatter include:

1) His personal desire to see the World Cup finals held in an African country. More than once, he has explicitly stated this preference and encouraged African countries to bid for the event. The concern being that the infrastructure and resources are absent over the continent required to host such an international and vast event. South Africa narrowly lost the 2006 event to Germany, and has now been awarded the 2010 event.

2)Blatter's presidency has also earned him many critics who deplore what they see as a dictatorial administration. Blatter has frequently imposed and/or threatened to impose harsh sanctions against players, officials, clubs and even national associations who commit what some see as very minor transgressions. For example, Blatter once intimated that Manchester United would be expelled from the game entirely if they appealed Rio Ferdinand's drug suspension in a court of law, and has threatened to suspend national associations who do not meticulously enforce the Laws of the Game.

On the other hand, Blatter has also earned the praise of many people who see him as a president who has stood firm against the game's richest clubs and ensured that the interests of national associations and teams - especially those of poorer nations - are not compromised by commercial interests. His critics counter that in doing this he is simply returning favours to the people to whom he owes his controverial election to office, while deliberately and/or recklessly threatening the football system of the major countries which account for the strength of football as a global sport and hence for the prominence of his own post.

External links

• FIFA President's page on official website of FIFA
• [1]- article on FIFA corruption