FIFA: PRESIDENT'S JOSEPH SEPP BLATTER BIOGRAPHY
http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/the-president/joseph-s-blatter.html
Joseph S. Blatter
Country of Birth: Switzerland
Date of birth: 10 March 1936
Mother tongue: German
Other languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian
Residence: Zurich, Switzerland
Member of the FIFA Executive Committee
since 1998
Positions:
Ø FIFA President (since 1998)
Ø General Secretary 1981-1998
Ø Technical Director 1975-1981
BIOGRAPHY
JOSEPH S.
(SEPP) BLATTER was born on 10 March 1936 in the Swiss town of Visp, near the famous Matterhorn. He graduated from the
colleges of Sion and St Maurice with a school-leaving certificate and then
gained a degree in Business Administration and Economics from the Faculty of
Law at the University of Lausanne. He has one daughter.
Sports
activities
·
Active
footballer from 1948 to 1971 (played in the top Swiss amateur league)
·
Board member of
Neuchâtel Xamax from 1970 to 1975
·
Member of the
Panathlon Club (association of sports officials)
·
Member of the
Swiss Association of Sportswriters since 1956
·
Member of the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 1999
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
On 8 June 1998, Joseph S. Blatter was elected in
Paris at the 51st FIFA Congress as the eighth FIFA
President and succeeded Dr João Havelange (Brazil). With this victory, the
Swiss, who had already been at FIFA for 23 years in various roles, attained the
highest position in international football.
Joseph S. Blatter began his professional career
as Head of Public Relations of the Valaisan Tourist Board and then became
General Secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation in 1964. He later pursued
journalistic and public relations activities in sport and the private sector.
As Director of Sports Timing and Public Relations of Longines, he was involved
in the organisation of the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games and thus came into
contact with the international sporting arena.
In mid-1975, as Director of FIFA Development
Programmes, Joseph S. Blatter began to implement President João Havelange’s
projects in this area. It was a time when ideas for competition and educational
programmes were coming to the fore, and the foundations were being laid for
World Cups in the U-20 and U-17 age groups as well as for women’s football and
indoor football (futsal), all of which have since become an integral part of
FIFA’s global activities.
In 1981, the multilingual Swiss was appointed
General Secretary by the FIFA Executive Committee and he was later vested with
the powers of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in 1990. No fewer than five World
Cups were held under his aegis (Spain 1982, Mexico 1986, Italy 1990, USA 1994
and France 1998). Together with João Havelange, he also played a leading role
in negotiating the TV and marketing contracts for the commercial exploitation
of the World Cup up to 2006.
At the end of March 1998, he decided to run for FIFA
President on the back of the direct support and interest manifested by numerous
associations from all confederations, and was elected at the 1998 Congress. On
29 May 2002, he was re-elected in Seoul and he secured a further four-year term
by acclamation in Zurich on 31 May 2007. He was re-elected again on 1 June
2011.
WORLD CUP PREMIERES IN ASIA AND AFRICA
Joseph S. Blatter is one of the most skilful
exponents of international sports diplomacy, placing himself wholeheartedly at
the service of football, FIFA and young people. His decades of work in various
spheres of world football have given him the necessary experience, contacts and
skills to lead football into the future and overcome the associated challenges.
He is committed to the fundamental democracy of
FIFA and to permanent dialogue with the 209 member associations and the six
confederations. His global mindset has resulted in World Cups being held for
the first time in Asia (2002) and Africa (2010) during his period at the helm.
Russia (2018) and the Arab world (2022) are also set to debut as hosts of the
competition, which is the logical continuation of a development that he
initiated.
In the decision-making process, he speaks to
everyone involved – players, coaches and referees. He is also on the ball when
it comes to the technical aspect of the game, and is open to rule modifications
and changes aimed at making football more attractive and credible, of which the
introduction of goal-line technology and vanishing spray are two of the most
recent examples.
Promoting women’s football is an issue that is
dear to Joseph S. Blatter’s heart, and the Women’s World Cup being held in
Canada in 2015 will feature 24 teams for the first time, representing a further
milestone. Women’s football has enjoyed significant growth at both elite and
grassroots level under his watch, with the game now being played by over 30
million women and girls worldwide. In many countries, football is a key weapon
in the fight for equal rights, and there remains much to be done in Africa and
Asia in particular.
According to the FIFA President, football – the
quintessential team sport – stands for “basic education, character formation
and fighting spirit, allied with respect and discipline”. For him, it is “the
best school of life”, a view borne out by FIFA’s education and training events,
of which 579 were held in 2014 alone.
Joseph S. Blatter considers that the spirit of
fair play inherent in the game should foster a better understanding among the
peoples of the world. “Football is synonymous with theatre and entertainment
and is hence an object of unequalled fascination for the media. It can even
spark artistic creativity and, of course, creates many jobs. But it is above
all an endless source of passion and joy. It is physical movement that
simultaneously moves the emotions. It is the most popular and talked-about game
in the world,” he says.
Football creates hope and social progress in
economically deprived regions. FIFA programmes such as “Football for Hope” and
“Football for Health” are laying important social groundwork in this respect.
The “11 against Ebola” campaign launched in West Africa in 2014 helped
significantly to educate people about the epidemic.
In 1994, Joseph S. Blatter was the driving force
behind a partnership with SOS Children’s Villages, a children’s charity
supported financially and materially by FIFA that operates in 132 countries and
currently provides care in 449 villages. In total, FIFA has invested over USD 2
billion in development projects under his presidency, setting the benchmark for
the future.
The FIFA President is also committed to
providing direct aid in the form of football equipment for refugee camps and is
involved in the fight against child labour, which is why FIFA, under his
leadership, has signed a code of conduct with the UN’s International Labour
Organization (ILO).
Thanks to his achievements, football is now the
focal point of numerous business initiatives. At the same time, the FIFA
President sees it as his duty to preserve the game’s integrity with all of its
human aspects, and considers bringing football’s various stakeholders together
as both an ongoing challenge and his greatest goal.
FOOTBALL FOR ALL, ALL FOR FOOTBALL
Since 1998, FIFA has developed into one of the
most profitable organisations in the world, with financial reserves of some USD
1.5 billion at the end of the 2014 financial year. Seventy per cent of FIFA’s
profits go back into football via the 209 FIFA member associations in the form
of development funds. At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, FIFA also set a
benchmark for environmental protection, social development and sustainable
event management, examples of which include offsetting all CO2 emissions
of FIFA and the local organisers, 18% of tickets going to disabled and socially
disadvantaged people and 445 tonnes of waste from the stadiums being recycled.
As an IOC member, Joseph S. Blatter is on the
Foundation Board of the World Anti-Doping Agency, where he is actively involved
in the fight against doping.
His key messages and aspirations are
credibility, transparency and fair play. Inspired by his “football for all, all
for football” philosophy, a new FIFA motto came into being in 2007:
“For the
Game. For the World.”
