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Tag: Sepp Blatter

  • W’Cup 2026: Blatter suggests fans should not travel to USA

    W’Cup 2026: Blatter suggests fans should not travel to USA

    Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter  suggested he supports fans boycotting World Cup matches in the United States this year due to security concerns.

    Blatter gave his support to comments from anti-corruption lawyer Mark Pieth, who worked with FIFA on potential reforms when Blatter was boss, saying fans should stay away from the USA for the tournament.

    “I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup,” Blatter said on social media.

    Pieth cited the killing of protester Renee Good by an American immigration agent in Minneapolis earlier in January as one reason for supporters not to travel to the USA, with Blatter’s endorsement of his comments coming in the wake of the death of a second US citizen, Alex Pretti, last weekend.

    The World Cup is due to be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11-July 19.

    “What we are seeing domestically -– the marginalisation of political opponents, abuses by immigration services, etc. — hardly encourages fans to go there,” Pieth said in an interview with Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger last week.”For fans, just one piece of advice: avoid the United States! You’ll get a better view on television anyway.

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    “Upon arrival, fans should expect that if they don’t behave properly with the authorities, they will be immediately sent home. If they’re lucky…”

    Blatter stepped down as FIFA president in 2015 amid several scandals and was replaced by current boss Gianni Infantino.

    Blatter and former UEFA chief Michel Platini were last year acquitted definitively on charges stemming from a delayed payment of two million Swiss francs ($2.5 million) FIFA made to Platini in 2011 for consultancy services.

    Former France star Platini said earlier this month that Infantino, who has forged a close relationship with US President Donald Trump, has “become more of an autocrat” and “he likes the rich and powerful”.

  • Ex-FIFA chief Blatter, Platini cleared in corruption case

    Ex-FIFA chief Blatter, Platini cleared in corruption case

    Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and France soccer great Michel Platini have both  been cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court, two and a half years after they were first acquitted of the offences.

    The pair, once among the most powerful figures in global soccer, were cleared of fraud at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in the town of Muttenz, near Basel.

    The hearing came about after Swiss federal prosecutors appealed against their 2022 acquittal at a lower court.

    Both men had denied the charge which related to a 2 million Swiss franc ($2.26 million) payment Blatter authorised for Platini in 2011.

    The court said there were doubts about the prosecution’s allegation the payment for Platini, a former captain and manager of the French national team, was fraudulent.

    The 2022 indictment had accused Blatter and Platini of deceiving FIFA staff in 2010 and 2011 about an obligation for world soccer’s ruling body to pay Platini.

    “They falsely claimed that FIFA owed Platini, or that Platini was entitled to, the sum of 2 million Swiss francs for advisory work. This deception was achieved through repeated untruthful claims made by both accused parties,” the indictment said.

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    But the court cleared the pair, saying their account of an oral agreement for the payment could not be ruled out.

    Platini had argued that the payment had been partly deferred until 2011 because FIFA lacked the funds to pay him in full immediately.

    The court said the pair had both been consistent in their accounts of the payment, which covered consultancy work carried out by Platini for Blatter between 1998 and 2002.

    Platini’s experience as a top footballer and coach, explained the size of the payment, said the court, which followed the legal principle that in cases of doubt, favour the accused.

    “It cannot be assumed that the defendants acted with the intention of enriching themselves in the sense of the charged offences,” the court said.

    The scandal, which emerged in 2015 when Platini was president of European soccer’s ruling body UEFA, ended his hopes of succeeding Blatter, who was forced out of FIFA over the affair.

    Blatter and Platini were suspended from football in 2015 by FIFA for ethics breaches, originally for eight years, although their exclusions were later reduced.

    Platini said he was relieved the case was over, and he had received messages of support from 10,000 people.

    “The persecution of FIFA and some Swiss federal prosecutors for 10 years is now over,” Platini told reporters. “It is now totally over. And for me, today, my honour has returned and I am very happy.”

    The 69-year-old said he thought the case had been intended to prevent him becoming FIFA president, but he was now too old to return to football.

    The money, which had been confiscated and held by the Swiss authorities, can now be returned to him.

    A frail-looking Blatter hugged his daughter Corinne after the judgement and said he was relieved with the decision.

    “It is a great relief for me because it’s been going on for ten years. It’s like a sword of Damocles hanging over my head,” he told reporters.

    “And now it’s over and I can breathe,” the 89-year-old said.

    Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 20 months in jail, suspended for two years for both Blatter and Platini.

    The Swiss attorney general’s office said it would review the written judgement, before deciding whether to appeal again to the Swiss Federal Court, the country’s highest legal authority.

  • Infantino set to be re-elected FIFA president

    Forty months after he replaced Sepp Blatter, the Swiss-Italian managed to fight against corruption, boost women’s football and successfully introduce the VAR at the 2018 World Cup.

    Six Confederations and 211 federations in total benefited by the FIFA Forward project that financed the former with 11 million euros each and the latter with 5.5m euros apiece.
    In an attempt to achieve equality in football, the women’s teams who are present at the 2019 World Cup in France will receive 45m euros, while up to 450m euros will be invested in the sport until 2022.
    Under Infantino, FIFA will introduce a new Club World Cup in 2021, despite opposition from UEFA.

    All the projects that the football international governing body undertake are been strictly reviewed by an independent auditor, while several federations’ administrations are being supervised to enable the release of the funds.

    Read Also: 2022 World Cup should be expanded if possible, says Infantino

    Open voting was introduced in the World Cup bidding process to replace the secret ballots that resulted in Qatar hosting the upcoming tournament.
    Meanwhile, all FIFA competitions’ games are monitored by a fraud detection system to avoid tampering, and new rules will be applied in the process of transfers as they look to control commission for agents.
    Finally, referees are going to be given the authority to stop a game, should any type off racist behaviour occurs throughout a game.

  • Blatter hits out at FIFA’s 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 said 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

  • Blatter joins Russia World Cup train

    Blatter joins Russia World Cup train

     

    Disgraced former FIFA President Sepp Blatter said declared he will be in Russia for the 2018 FIFA World Cup at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in spite of a six-year ban from football-related activities, the AFP news agency reported on Friday.

    “I will go to the World Cup in Russia,” Blatter told AFP. “I received an invitation from President Putin.”

    Blatter was at the head of the world’s football governing body for 17 years, including in 2010 when Russia won the right to host the 2018 World Cup, and Qatar was controversially picked to host the 2022 tournament.

    He was ousted in 2015 following a corruption scandal. The FIFA ethics committee subsequently banned him from the sport for eight years, but the term was reduced to six years after an appeal.

    The ban, however, has not deterred Blatter from planning a trip to Russia when the country hosts the World Cup next summer.

    “I don’t know how long I will go for, whether I will be there for the opening match or the final,”

    Blatter said. “Because I can’t work in football and I don’t have an assignment to do, maybe I will only make a short visit.”

    Africa first hosted the World Cup in 2010 under Blatter when the world converged on South Africa to celebrate the biggest soccer fiesta. By virtue of his ban, the 81 year old Swiss will have to wait till 2021 just a year before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to engage in anything involving patterning to the round leather game.

  • FIFA: Blatter loses appeal against 6-year ban

    FIFA: Blatter loses appeal against 6-year ban

    Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has lost his appeal against a six-year ban for ethics violations, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Monday.

    It could be recalled that the ban was imposed amid the biggest corruption scandal to shake the world football body,

    CAS ruled that Blatter had authorised payments to Michel Platini, then the European football body’s president, worth over $2 million which amounted to “undue gifts’’.

    It said this had therefore violated FIFA’s code of ethics.

    Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years, told Reuters in a telephone interview that he was “disappointed but not shattered’’.

    He resigned in June 2015 after several dozen football officials, including FIFA executive committee members and former members, had been indicted in the U.S. on graft charges.

    They were indicted along with two sports marketing firms.

    The 80-year-old Swiss was not among those indicted but became embroiled in scandal when he was banned from all football-related activities the following December by FIFA’s Ethics Committee.

    He was banned along with Platini, then the UEFA president.

    The two men were banned, initially for eight years, over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($1.98 million) which FIFA made to Platini in 2011, with Blatter’s approval.

    The duo had claimed the payment was for work done a decade earlier.

    The bans were reduced to six years by FIFA’s appeals committee in February.

    Both men denied wrongdoing and Blatter said the payment related to a verbal agreement.

    CAS said in a statement that its three-man panel had determined that Blatter “breached the FIFA code of ethics since the payment amounted to an undue gift as it had no contractual basis’’.

    “The Panel further found that Blatter unlawfully awarded contributions to Platini under the FIFA Executive Committee retirement scheme which also amounted to an undue gift.’’

    Swiss prosecutors are now investigating Blatter on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation of funds over the payment, which they describe as “disloyal’’.

    He has however not been charged.

    In September, FIFA’s Ethics Committee said it was investigating Blatter and two other former leading FIFA officials over the salaries and bonuses they had received while in office.

    Those probes come against a broader background of suspicion over the FIFA Executive Committee’s allocation of FIFA’s showpiece event, the four-yearly World Cup, to Russia and Qatar.

    They were awarded under Blatter’s watch, and Swiss authorities are investigating whether bribes were paid to help secure the hosting rights.

    Blatter, who must also pay a fine of 50,000 Swiss francs, told Reuters after the CAS ruling: “I have accepted it now. I have got to the stage where I have struggled enough, I have worked enough.’’

    “I still have contact with people in football and heads of state,” he said.

    “We have developed football all around the world, we have made football part of the economy and it also has some political influence …

    “I do hope that at a future FIFA Congress, somebody will stand up and say “perhaps president Blatter is not so bad’.’’

    CAS cut Platini’s ban to four years in May but said on Monday that Blatter had not requested a reduction.

    “In any event, the panel determined that the sanction imposed was not disproportionate.’’

  • Ex- FIFA officials ‘awarded themselves £55m’

    Ex- FIFA officials ‘awarded themselves £55m’

    Former high-ranking FIFA officials – Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner awarded themselves pay rises and bonuses worth $80m (£55m) over five years, lawyers to the soccer governing body have said.

    FIFA revealed the contracts of ex-president Blatter, fired ex-secretary general Valcke and sacked former finance director Kattner one day after a Swiss police raid, the BBC reports.

    Its lawyers said there was evidence that the trio made “a coordinated effort” to “enrich themselves” between 2011 and 2015.

    Documents and electronic data were seized during Thursday’s operation, which relates to investigations into Blatter and Valcke.

    Suspected of criminal mismanagement of FIFA’s money, Blatter and Valcke were banned for six and 12 years respectively by the governing body’s ethics committee in February.

    Both denied wrongdoing.

    A statement for the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG), which carried out the investigations, read: “Documents and electronic data were seized and will now be examined to determine their relevance to the ongoing proceedings.”

    FIFA said the evidence uncovered by its own internal investigation would be shared with the Swiss Attorney General’s office and the United States Department of Justice.

     

  • Suspended UEFA chief Platini takes case to CAS

    Suspended UEFA chief Platini takes case to CAS

    Suspended UEFA president, Michel Platini’s appeal against his six-year ban from soccer was being heard at sport’s highest tribunal on Friday with former FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, among the witnesses.

    Platini, who arrived in a taxi for the hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), is hoping that the ban will be overturned in time for the Euro 2016 tournament holding in France, Reuters reported.

    CAS said a decision could even be made as early as next week, depending on how the day-long hearing progresses.

    Platini, who was favourite to succeed Blatter as president FIFA before he was banned, was mobbed by reporters and cameramen as he entered the building in a leafy Lausanne suburb.

    He was banned for eight years in December along with Blatter over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.08 million) made to the Frenchman by FIFA in 2011 for work done a decade earlier.

    FIFA’s ethics committee, which imposed the ban, said the payment, made at a time when Blatter was seeking re-election, lacked transparency and presented conflicts of interest.

    Both men denied wrongdoing.

    Both had their bans reduced to six years by FIFA’s Appeal Committee in February after it took into account their services to the game.

     

  • Blatter, Michel Platini lose FIFA appeals

    Blatter, Michel Platini lose FIFA appeals

    FIFA appeals committee on Wednesday upheld the bans handed out to outgoing president of the soccer governing body, Sepp Blatter and s UEFA boss Michel Platini.

    But the suspensions have been reduced from eight to six years, the BBC reports.

    Both were found guilty of breaches surrounding a £1.3m ($2m) “disloyal payment” to Platini.

    They denied any wrongdoing and have said they will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

    Blatter, 79, added in a statement that he was “very disappointed by the appeal committee of FIFA.”

    Platini, 60, said it was “insulting and shameful” and a “political decision.”

    The committee said “activities and services rendered to FIFA, UEFA and football” was a mitigating factor.

    FIFA’s presidential election is due to take place on Friday to find Blatter’s replacement.

    Blatter and Platini said the payment honoured a verbal or gentleman’s agreement made in 1998 for work carried out by the Frenchman when he was a technical advisor for Blatter.

  • Blatter, Platini banned for eight years

    Blatter, Platini banned for eight years

    Suspended FIFA duo of Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were banned for eight years on Monday by FIFA’s Ethics Committee.

    The pair had been suspended for 90 days in October while an investigation was carried out into a 2 million Swiss franc ($2.02 million) payment by FIFA to Platini in 2011.

    Both men have denied any wrongdoing, Reuters reported.