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Tag: SEpp blatter

  • What Ex-FIFA president, Blatter told me about Nigerian coaches – Maigari

    What Ex-FIFA president, Blatter told me about Nigerian coaches – Maigari

    Former President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, has revealed what a former FIFA President, Sepp Blatter once told him about Nigerian coaches.

    Austine Eguavoen led the Super Eagles to the Round of 16 at the ongoing 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

    The Super Eagles lost to Tunisia.

    The Eagles were initially tipped to win and Maigari believed that the squad played attractive football at the tournament.

    “…They showed great form and character right for. the group games,” he told Complete Sports.

    “This goes to confirm my stand on Nigerian coaches. You remember when former FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, wrote to commend me for having the trust and faith in one of our own, (late) Stephen Keshi, to appoint him as Super Eagles coach.

    “Blatter did that twice. The second time was after our Nations Cup win in 2013 in South Africa. So, I believe Eguavoen did well. The solution to our football problems lies in our own hands.

    “Like Blatter said in his (second) commendation letter to me, it is only indigenous coaches that know their players’ character, mentality, the culture of the people and attitude.

    “They work with commitment, determination because they know that they don’t have any other country than theirs.”

    Up next for the Super Eagles is their World Cup qualifying playoff against Ghana in March.

  • Why biennial World Cup is not good for football – Former FIFA President

    Why biennial World Cup is not good for football – Former FIFA President

    Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has delivered “a clear ‘No’ ” to the governing body’s plans for biennial World Cup competitions.

    The 85-year-old, who held the top position at FIFA between 1998 and 2015 before being brought down in a corruption scandal, has come out against the idea.

    It forms part of a wider package of proposed reforms to the international match calendar post-2024.

    Blatter wrote on Twitter: “Concerning the biennial World Cup: We must not forget that the basis of our game are the clubs and their impact to society. ….And if only the national teams play the clubs lose their right to exist. Therefore, a clear ‘NO’ to the two-year-rhythm of the World Cup.”

    Blatter’s opposition to FIFA’s plans is perhaps no great surprise given that last March, FIFA’s ethics committee imposed a new six-year, four-month ban on him.

    This was after it found he was part of a “vicious circle” of officials who sought to award themselves over 50 million pounds (68 million dollars) in undeclared payments.

    That suspension began in October last year, when a previous six-year sanction relating to a payment he made in 2011 to former UEFA president Michel Platini expired.

    The pair were charged with fraud by Swiss federal prosecutors in relation to that payment in November last year, with the case due to be heard in the federal criminal court this year.

    In December 2020, FIFA issued a separate criminal mismanagement complaint to Zurich prosecutors against Blatter and others in relation to the construction and ongoing costs of the FIFA Museum in the city.

    FIFA is continuing to consult with national associations, confederations, players, fans and coaches over its plans to reshape national team football.

    UEFA, the European Club Association and European Leagues have all criticised the proposals and what they see as a lack of appropriate consultation.

    Current FIFA president Gianni Infantino called on the game’s elite clubs and countries to show “solidarity” with the wider sport in a new year’s message published last week.

    He and FIFA’s chief of global football development, Arsene Wenger, believe the proposals would provide more meaningful competition for all member-countries and more opportunities to qualify for tournaments.

    Delegates attending the virtual global summit called by FIFA last month were also told that an additional World Cup in each four-year cycle would increase revenues by 4.4 billion US dollars.

  • FIFA slams additional six year ban on Blatter

    FIFA slams additional six year ban on Blatter

    International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) said on Wednesday it had extended the ban on its former president Sepp Blatter and former secretary-general Jerome Valcke by six years and eight months, in relation to the receipt of huge bonuses.

    Blatter, who is 85, received 23 million Swiss francs ($24.6 million) in “extraordinary bonuses” linked to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as well as the Confederations Cup tournament in Brazil that preceded it, FIFA’s Ethics Committee said in a statement.

    Valcke, the 60-year-old Frenchman who was Blatter’s right-hand man during his 17-year reign at the head of football’s world governing body, received 30 million Swiss francs over the same period, the committee said.

    The Ethics Committee said Blatter and Valcke had broken rules in FIFA’s Code of Ethics including “offering and accepting gifts or other benefits” and “abuse of position”.

    The new bans will only come into force when the current bans on Blatter and Valcke, which last till October this year and October 2025, end.

    The Ethics Committee said it had also fined each man one million Swiss francs.

  • FIFA lodges criminal complaint against Sepp Blatter

    FIFA lodges criminal complaint against Sepp Blatter

    Fifa has lodged a criminal complaint against former president Sepp Blatter over the finances of a museum in Zurich, Switzerland.

    The complaint relates to the involvement of Blatter and other former officials in the Fifa museum project.

    It is the latest allegation of financial impropriety against Blatter, who resigned from his post as president in 2015 amid a corruption scandal.

    The 84-year-old has always denied any wrongdoing.

    Fifa, football’s world governing body, say Blatter’s previous administration cost them 500m Swiss francs (£420m) to renovate “a building that the organisation doesn’t own”, while also “locking itself into a long-term rental agreement on unfavourable terms”.

    “Given the massive costs associated with this museum, as well as the general way of working of the previous Fifa management, a forensic audit was conducted in order to find out what really happened here,” said Alasdair Bell, Fifa’s deputy secretary general (administration).

    “That audit revealed a wide range of suspicious circumstances and management failures, some of which may be criminal in nature and need to be properly investigated by the relevant authorities.

    “We came to the conclusion that we had no choice other than to report the case to state prosecutors, not least because the current management of Fifa also has fiduciary responsibilities to the organisation and we intend to live up to them, even if those before us dismally failed to.”

    The complaint has been sent to the Zurich prosecutor, and Fifa says it will “continue to cooperate with the authorities in Switzerland and elsewhere so that those people who damaged football are held accountable for their actions”.

    The museum project began in 2013, two years before Blatter, who was Fifa president for 17 years, announced his resignation.

    In response, Blatter’s lawyer Lorenz Erni, says Fifa’s accusations are “baseless and vehemently repudiated”.

    Blatter is currently serving a six-year ban from all forms of football.

  • Former FIFA President Blatter calls for Infantino’s suspension

    Former FIFA President Blatter calls for Infantino’s suspension

    Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has called for the suspension of his successor, Gianni Infantino, by the global football body after criminal proceedings were opened against Infantino in Switzerland.

    Swiss authorities said on Thursday that proceedings had been launched against the current FIFA boss by a special prosecutor looking into meetings he had with the Swiss Attorney-General, Michael Lauber.

    Lauber and Infantino have, however, denied any wrongdoing.

    “For me, the situation is clear that the FIFA ethics committee has to open a case against Mr Infantino and so it has to suspend him,” Blatter, 84, said in a statement to Reuters.

    FIFA did not immediately reply to a request for comments on Blatter’s statement.

    Blatter, who was FIFA president for 17 years, himself was suspended and later banned by FIFA’s ethics committee after he became the subject of criminal proceedings in Switzerland in 2015.

    The investigation is still ongoing and Blatter, who has denied any wrongdoing, has not been charged.

    It centred on a payment of two million Swiss francs (1.6 million pounds) made in 2011 to then UEFA President Michel Platini with Blatter’s approval.

    Both Blatter and Platini have insisted the payment was for work the Frenchman had done a decade earlier.

    Blatter was banned for eight years, but the sentence was reduced to six on appeal, and Platini also for eight years, and reduced to four.

    Platini also denied any wrongdoing.

    The FIFA ethics committee is divided into an investigatory and an adjudicatory chamber, which since 2017 have been headed by Colombian Maria Claudia Rojas and Greek Vassilios Skouris respectively.

    They replaced Swiss Cornel Borbely and German Hans-Joachim Eckert who were ousted when the decision-making FIFA Council decided not to renew their mandates.

  • Former FIFA president Blatter hits out at World Cup bidding process

    Former FIFA president Blatter hits out at World Cup bidding process

    Former world football governing body FIFA chief Sepp Blatter says he is shocked at a rule which has been inserted into the World Cup bidding process.

    The rule referred to by Blatter could allow a five-man task force to disqualify a candidate before a democratic vote is held.

    In 2011 the FIFA Congress, where each of the global soccer body’s 211 member associations hold one vote, was given the right to choose the World Cup hosts following a change proposed by Blatter while he was president.

    The first hosting decision since then will be in June at the Congress in Moscow, where only two bids are in the running, a joint proposal from the United States/Canada/Mexico and one from Morocco.

    However, the two bids must first pass a technical inspection from a five-man task force, which has the power to disqualify a candidate whose proposal is seen as not up to scratch.

    Blatter told Reuters that both candidates should have the right to present their bids to Congress.

    He was banned for six years in 2015 for unethical conduct but has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and believes he can get the suspension reversed.

    The Swiss said he was concerned “that there is a movement” where a “special task force” will be given power “to decide who will be a candidate or not”. He added: “That is not possible.”

    “You cannot deny one of the candidates (the chance) to go to Congress. This is a principle and I stick to this principle… I was shocked.”

    Before 2011, World Cup hosting was decided by FIFA’s executive committee, which had 24 members at the time.

    But the previous bidding process, for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, became embroiled in allegations of illegitimate attempts to influence the committee’s voting members.

    The finals were awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively at the same time after a vote in December 2010.

    A subsequent FIFA investigation detailed numerous attempts to influence the voting officials but there was no suggestion the race should be re-run.

    Swiss Blatter, FIFA president from 1998 to 2015, was also wary of the new 48-team format to be used at the 2026 World Cup when the tournament will be increased from 32 countries.

    The teams will be divided into 16 groups of three in the first round, with the top two qualifying for the round of 32. One team in each group will not play on a given match day.

    “We will see what will happen with 48 teams but one thing cannot be done – to play in groups of three because we had this problem in 1982 in Spain,” Blatter said.

    In that tournament, the second round had four groups of three teams, with the winners qualifying for the semi-finals.

    The format was never used again during Blatter’s tenure.

    “In groups of three, there is always one spectator (a team who will not be in action),” he added.

    The 82-year-old was also wary of the video assistant referee (VAR) system which was approved by soccer’s rule-making body IFAB in March and will be used at this year’s World Cup.

    “For a purist in football as I am, I think it is an innovation which is going too fast,” said Blatter.

    “Most of the referees have never worked this system and to go the World Cup and to introduce this system in the World Cup, I think it is not very clever.”

    Blatter said that when VAR was first mooted, the idea was to give teams the right to challenge decisions, as in tennis or cricket.

    But under the system approved in March, the referee or the video assistant decides when to review a decision.

    “I don’t feel comfortable, definitely not, and spectators don’t feel comfortable,” he said.

    Blatter remained confident he could overturn his ban, which was imposed by FIFA’s ethics committee shortly after the Swiss attorney general’s office began criminal proceedings against him on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation.

    No charges have yet been brought and Blatter has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

    “So if they come to the solution (conclusion) that it is not criminal, then why, why have we been suspended?” he asked.

    “There is a possibility that this suspension will be lifted, although I don’t think it will happen before the World Cup.”

    Reuters

  • Blatter says he wants FIFA to reconsider his case

    Blatter says he wants FIFA to reconsider his case

    Former controversial FIFA president Sepp Blatter intends to ask the ethics committee of the global soccer body to reconsider his case and lift his six-year ban from the sport.

    Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years, was barred for ethics violations in 2015 amid the biggest corruption scandal to shake world soccer’s governing body.

    The ban was imposed shortly after the Swiss attorney general’s office began criminal proceedings against him on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation. No charges have yet been brought and Blatter has denied wrongdoing.

    “It is now two and a half years, this file has not moved,” Blatter told reporters, adding he had no indication how long the investigation would last. “It is like having the Sword of Damocles over my head because you never know what will happen.”

    Blatter, who last month told Reuters he was considering legal action to clear his name, said he was now thinking of asking FIFA’s ethics committee to re-open his case.

    “I am looking to have a solution also from the FIFA ethics committee to lift the suspension, which is a nonsense,” he said.

    “I am also trying to see how we can change it. I hope to have a solution in the next three months before we open the World Cup in Russia.”

    The Swiss attorney-general’s office could not immediately be reached for comment but in the past has said that such investigations can take several years.

    Blatter also confirmed that he had been invited by President Vladimir Putin to attend the World Cup in Russia in June and July. “I’m honored and I have accepted,” he said.

  • Former FIFA president, Blatter says Morocco will be logical choice for 2026 World Cup

    Former FIFA president, Blatter says Morocco will be logical choice for 2026 World Cup

    Banned former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has put his support behind Morocco’s bid to host the 2026 World Cup finals, saying the North African country would be the logical choice.

    Morocco is bidding for the fifth time to host the World Cup finals, having also tried for the 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010 tournaments.

    The only other bid is a joint one from the U.S., Canada and Mexico with football’s world governing body FIFA due to choose the hosts at its Congress in Moscow in June.

    Blatter said on Twitter: “World Cup 2026: Co-hosting rejected by FIFA after 2002 (also applied in 2010 and 2018). And now: Morocco would be the logical host! And it is time for Africa again!”

    Blatter, who was FIFA president from 1998 to 2015, turned against co-hosting after the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, the only time the tournament has been shared.

    The eighty-one-year-old Swiss quit his post and was later banned for six years for ethics violations by FIFA’s ethics committee.

    The only tournament staged in Africa so far was the 2010 finals in South Africa, something Blatter is immensely proud of.

  • I regret not leaving FIFA earlier – Blatter

    I regret not leaving FIFA earlier – Blatter

    Disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, has admitted that he regretted not stepping down earlier.

    Blatter was forced out as head of world football’s governing body amid a corruption scandal in 2015.

    The 81-year-old was banned over ethics breaches, following a suspect two million Swiss franc ($2 million, 1.8 million euro) payment to ex-UEFA president, Michel Platini.

    It brought an end to this 17-year regin as FIFA chief.

    “I should have stopped myself earlier,” Blatter said in an interview published by Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick, adding that his ousting as FIFA boss was “a relief”.

    He also recalled that the editor-in-chief of a Swiss magazine, warned him that the role of FIFA president had an expiration date.

    “‘At your place the date is 2014’, he told me, and I said to him that sometimes it’s written that the product can be consumed beyond this date if it’s stored in a cool place,” Blatter added.