Sepp Blatter
From Freepedia
Joseph 'Sepp' Blatter (born March 10, 1936 in Visp, Wallis, Switzerland) was elected president of FIFA on June 8, 1998, succeeding Dr. João Havelange (Brazil).
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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 (as of October 2005), many questions regarding his integrity remain unanswered.
Criticism
Blatter has made many changes to football since he was elected president of FIFA which fans of the sport do not always want to see. Some controversial topics revolving around Blatter include:
- 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. South Africa narrowly lost the 2006 event to Germany, and has now been awarded the 2010 event.
- The "silver goal" replaced the "golden gold" 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 go on until the end of the extra time period. Many fans opposed the new rule, arguing that this makes the match less exciting. 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 old 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 exempted team was Brazil, the World Cup 2002 champion.
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.
External Links
| Preceded by: João Havelange | Presidents of FIFA 1998– | Succeeded by: Incumbent |
