Managing FIFA: larger than life FIFA's Sepp Blatter talks to Swiss News about the association's present and future outlook, about Switzerland and about football.
| Auteur | Blake, Chris |
| Fonction | Profile |
FIFA's President Sepp Blatter is unarguably one of the most powerful people in all of sports. Based in Zurich, FIFA is the governing body of world football, by far the globe's richest and most popular game. Blatter's position encompasses a large range of issues as revealed by his recent conversation with Swiss News.
Swiss News: FIFA celebrated its centennial last year. As it begins the next one, what do you see as the most important issue emerging in world football?
We know that not everything is rosy in the FIFA garden especially if we look at the recent doping incidents in various associations. Regrettably, we have also seen a lack of discipline and respect at different levels of the game. Not only has there been a growing disrespect for football's institutions but also for the game itself at the expense of fair play and the traditional values of the game--solidarity, universality and working for the common good.
Another disturbing aspect is the financial situation of many clubs. There is a glut of football in the game's top leagues and on television, which leads to a loss in revenue (from television, advertising and gate receipts) and it ultimately muses the clubs to fall into financial difficulties.
Furthermore, all parties are not adhering to the international calendar ratified by the 2000 FIFA Congress and conflicts have therefore arisen between clubs, their players and national teams with each trying to defend their differing interests.
Aside from FC Basel's recent European exploits, the Swiss game seems predictable and somewhat lacklustre. With FIFA headquartered in Switzerland this could seem ironic. What can the domestic game do to improve its quality?
That is more of a question to the Swiss football association and the Swiss League. FIFA has 205 member associations and while we promote and develop football in general it is not our remit to tell associations what to do to bring their game or their clubs up to speed.
FIFA is insisting that domestic football leagues restrict their top divisions to no more than 1618 teams. The idea is to help prevent player burnout and injuries incurred from playing too many games, But the domestic leagues seem generally resistant to this idea, presumably because of monetary concerns. Is there a compromise in the works?
The recent meetings of the FIFA Strategic Study Committee and the FIFA Executive Committee in early October showed that there is general agreement on reducing the number of matches so...
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