Blatter, Joseph

Blatter (left) and 7th FIFA President Joao Havelange . 1982

Joseph Blatter was born on March 10, 1936 in the Swiss commun of Visp in the family of an auto mechanic. Attended elementary school in Fispe, later studied at schools in Sion and St. Moritz . After graduating from school in 1954, he entered the University of Lausanne, Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC). He graduated with a diploma in 1958 ^[10] .

While studying at university, he worked as a sports commentator and journalist in a local newspaper ^[10] . He became a member of the Swiss Association of Sports Journalists. From 1948 to 1971 played for one of the amateur Swiss football clubs ^[11] . In 1962, he began his career in a Swiss travel company. In 1964 he became General Secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Association. In 1972, as a representative of Longines , he took part in the preparation of the Olympic Games in Munich and even worked as a time judge at the final match of the basketball tournament ^[12] . From 1970 to 1975 he was a member of the board of the Swiss football club Xamax ^[10] .

In 1975 he became the technical director of FIFA . In 1981, he was appointed to the post of general secretary of this organization by its president, Joao Havelange . In 1998, in the fight for the presidency of FIFA, he won the election of UEFA President Lennart Johansson . In 1999 he became a member of the International Olympic Committee .

Personal life

He was married three times, has a daughter from his first marriage.

In 2001, his name was at the center of the scandal over the bankruptcy of FIFA's partner company ISL / ISMM. In 2015, on the eve of the FIFA presidential election, a number of media outlets against Joseph Blatter complained about the corruption scandal in the leadership of the federation ^[13] .

On May 29, 2015, he was re-elected president of FIFA for a fifth term, after he removed his candidacy after the first round of Ali bin al-Hussein , and Blatter did not have 7 votes to win in the first round ^[14] .

On June 2, 2015, he announced his resignation from the post of FIFA President and will be acting until the new FIFA presidential election ^{[4] [5]} .

The European Parliament in its resolution of June 11, 2015 called on Joseph Blatter to resign immediately ^[15] .

On September 24, 2015, the Swiss prosecutor opened a criminal case against Blatter under two articles: “criminal negligence” and “theft”. He is suspected of making an illegal payment to UEFA President Platini in the amount of 2 million Swiss francs from FIFA funds, which was made for the performance of work from January 1999 to June 2002 and carried out in February 2011 ^[16] .

On October 7, 2015, the Investigative Chamber of the International Football Ethics Federation Committee advocated the immediate removal of the organization’s president Joseph Blatter from his duties for 90 days ^[17] .

On November 18, the FIFA Appeals Committee rejected Blatter and Platini's appeals of suspension from football activities. On November 21, the FIFA Ethics Committee’s Investigation Chamber completed an investigation into Blatter and Platini and submitted the final reports containing sanctions requests for Blatter and Platini to the FIFA Arbitration Chamber ^[18] .

On December 21, 2015, the FIFA Ethics Committee decided to suspend for eight years from football activities the President of the International Football Federation (FIFA) Joseph Blatter and the head of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Michel Platini ^[19] . This decision was made after an investigation, in the center of which was a large money transfer authorized by Blatter - 2 million Swiss francs (almost $ 2 million) - in the name of Platini.

On February 24, 2016, the FIFA Appeals Committee shortened the period of suspension of Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini from eight to six years ^[20] .

On December 5, 2016, the Lausanne Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the appeal of Sepp Blatter and upheld his six-year suspension from football activities ^[21] .

• Cavalier of the Legion of Honor ( France ) ^[22]
• Order of Francisco Miranda Class I ( Venezuela ) ^[22]
• Commander of the National Order of Djibouti ^[22]
• Order of the Two Niles ( Sudan ) ^[22]
• Grand Ribbon of the Order of the Republic ( Tunisia ) ^[22]
• Large Ribbon of the Order of the Alauit Throne ( Morocco ) ^[22]
• Order of Independence Class I ( Jordan ) ^[22]
• Order of Good Hope ( South Africa ) ^[22]
• The Golden Order of the Companions of Oliver Tambo (South Africa) ^[22]
• Order of Friendship ( Uzbekistan ) ^[22]
• Order “Danaker” ( Kyrgyzstan ) ^[22]
• Order Dostyk of the II degree (Kazakhstan, December 12, 2005) ^{[22] [23]}
• Order of the Polar Star (Mongolia, September 2007) ^[24]
• Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise ( Ukraine ) II art. ( August 24, 2013 ) ^[25] , III art. ( November 29, 2006 ) ^[26]
• Order of Merit, I degree (Ukraine, March 23, 2001 ) ^[27]
• Order of Condescension ( Catalonia ) ^[22]
• Order of Zayed ( United Arab Emirates , 2003 ) ^[28]
• Olympic Order ^[22]

In the film “ League of Dreams ” (dir. F. Obertin, France, 2014), dedicated to the history of FIFA, Tim Roth plays the role of Blatter.

Blatter was the prototype of Adolf Bloodder, the main negative character in V. Nikolaev’s novel “The Killed Championship” ^[29] .

• Blatter's Biography on the FIFA Website
• FIFA World Cup in Russia will be the best and multicultural - FIFA President Joseph Blatter