Sepp Blatter
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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).
Background
Born in the Swiss town of Visp, Blatter 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.
His long and varied career includes posts such as Head of Public Relations of the Valaisan Tourist Board in his native Switzerland, as well as General Secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation. He was also Director of Sports Timing and Public Relations of Longines S.A. and was involved in the organization of the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. In the early 70's Blatter was also president of the World Society of Friends of Suspenders. An organisation who tried to stop women switching from stockings to suspenders.
Since 1975, Blatter has been working at FIFA as Technical Director (1975-1981) and General Secretary (1981-1998). He was re-elected as head of FIFA in 2002, defeating Issa Hayatou in the election.
Changes to the game made 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 believe that this rule change makes the game less exciting, while others felt that the game is fairer as a result. The new rule was first applied in the Euro 2004 competition, but it has since been discontinued along with golden goal. All competitions have now reverted to the traditional extra time rules, i.e. they must play the full amount of extra time (two fifteen-minute periods) no matter how many goals are scored.
- After the 2002 World Cup (the 17th World Cup), the current World Cup champion no longer automatically qualifies for the next World Cup finals, as was the case for the champions of all 16 previous World Cups. 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. In particular, Blatter insists that a referee's judgement must be seen as final and that mistakes are part of the game. The English FA, however, has refused to follow this directive, and allows appeals against straight red cards (though not those resulting from two yellows).
- Under Blatter, various rules purported to elevate the moral standards in the playing of the game were implemented including booking players who remove their shirts after scoring a goal starting in 2004, as well as those who are guilty of 'over-zealous celebrations'. The rationale for this particular rule change was that football is a global sport, and thus the sensibilities of conservative nations and spectators must be respected.
Criticism
Allegations of corruption
Blatter's election to the presidency of FIFA over UEFA President Lennart Johansson did not come without controversy. His incumbency has also 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, who claimed to have been offered $100,000 to vote for Blatter.
Sepp Blatter's deputy at the time, Michael Zen-Ruffinen, drew up a dossier outlining allegations of financial mismanagement and corruption within FIFA. The dossier alleged that the collapse of ISL had led to negative equity and losses of up to $100m under Blatter's organisation. The allegations were backed by Johansson, and the dossier was handed to the Swiss authorities, but in the end no action was taken. Zen-Ruffinen was removed from office by Blatter immediately before the FIFA World Cup 2002.
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 spoke of blatant vote-rigging that went on behind closed doors in the fight for Blatter's continued control of FIFA.
Sexism
In 2006, Blatter was heavily criticised in the media for making sexist comments about women. He claimed that football was a man's game and women should only play if they wore skimpy shorts.[citation needed]
Diving
In football, diving or "simulation" has become a big issue FIFA is actively trying to remove from the game. Blatter, however, told the media he believes diving has its place and that when he was a lower league Swiss player, he was known to simulate as well.[citation needed]
2006 FIFA World Cup
During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Blatter's absence during the prize-podium events was noted and criticized in international media. It was considered odd by many that FIFA's president was not present during the climax of FIFA's biggest event. The reasons behind Blatter's decision were subject to discussion.
Blatter also made the press for comments made after a controversial second-round match between Portugal and the Netherlands, which saw referee Valentin Ivanov issuing a record 16 yellow cards and four red cards. After the match, Blatter lambasted the officiating, and said that Ivanov should have given himself a yellow card for his poor performance as a referee.[1] However, on the day when Ivanov turned 45, Blatter said he regretted his words and promised to officially apologise to Ivanov.[2]
Furthermore in an interview with an Australian channel where he said that Australia should have won and not Italy. He claims that the penalty given to Italy was not a penalty. The statement angered the Italian football federation FIGC which has asked for an apology. Blatter the next day said that he was misinterpreted and that he wanted to say to the Australian fans that their team had played a great game. url = http://sport.monstersandcritics.com/soccer/article_1216234.php/Blatter_refutes_misleading_quotes_in_Italy_World_Cup_row |publisher=Deutsche Presse| date=2006-30-10}}</ref>
References
- ^ "Blatter criticises referee Ivanov". BBC. 2006-06-26. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "World-Blatter regrets criticism of referee Ivanov". Reuters. 2006-07-04.
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