From suspender belts to Ronaldo's slavery... welcome to Sepp's world
Name: Sepp Blatter
Born: March 10, 1936
Position: FIFA President
Since: 1998
Tuesday December 01 2009
Name: Sepp Blatter
Born: March 10, 1936
Position: FIFA President
Since: 1998
THE most powerful man in world football, Sepp Blatter, has been involved with FIFA since 1975, WRITES DANIEL McDONNELL.
Prior to that, the Swiss native had enjoyed a varied career. He worked in tourism promoting the Valais region in his homeland, spent a period as the General Secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation, and worked in PR for watch company Longines in tandem with their organisation of the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games.
Yet he arguably gained the most relevant experience for a career in football administration when, in 1971, he was elected President of the World Society of Friends of Suspenders -- a group of 120 men from 16 countries who expressed dismay when women replaced suspender belts with pantyhose. While that cause was short lived, Blatter moved on to FIFA and duly perfected the science of getting people's knickers into a twist.
After serving as both technical director and general secretary, Blatter assumed the top job in 1998 after a bitter struggle with Lennart Johansson, then President of UEFA.
Central to his campaign was his promise to bring a World Cup to Africa which secured significant votes from that continent.
His tenure was nearly derailed in 2002 when ISL, the marketing company he hired to oversee two World Cups, collapsed amid a series of financial controversies. The association's coffers were hit to the tune of €50m and criminal charges were ultimately taken against members of that company.
In the same year, the vice-president of the African Football Confederation, Farah Addo, claimed he was offered a bribe of $100,000 by members of Blatter's campaign team in return for a vote in the 1998 election but refused the offer.
The Somali FA boss said that 18 other African federations had received similar approaches, yet Blatter managed to survive inquiries and come out on the other side in charge.
However, his desire to grab the limelight wasn't dented by those episodes. In recent years, he has managed to annoy various interest groups in the game with a series of gaffes borne from ill-judged public statements.
They include a call for women footballers to wear tighter shorts, over-the-top criticism of FIFA-appointed match officials and, memorably, describing Cristiano Ronaldo as a 'slave' during the protracted saga that was his move from Manchester United to Real Madrid.
In that context, his blundering contribution to the Paris post-mortem should come as little surprise.
Irish Independent
