Latest news with #SeppBlatter
New York Times
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
‘Football has been lost to Saudi Arabia' – former FIFA president Sepp Blatter
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said football has been 'lost' to Saudi Arabia and criticised his former employer's role in offering 'no opposition' to the Middle East nation. In December, Saudi was confirmed as the host nation of the 2034 men's World Cup following an unopposed bid for the tournament. Advertisement Saudi Arabia has invested significantly in football in recent years, most notably in 2023 as its Public Investment Fund (PIF) took control of four domestic teams — Al Ahli, Al Hilal, Al Ittihad and Al Nassr — in the Saudi Pro League (SPL), a year after PIF bought an 85 per cent stake in Premier League club Newcastle United. FIFA's $1 billion broadcast deal for the newly-expanded Club World Cup with DAZN — now part-owned by PIF's sports arm SURJ — is another element of the Middle Eastern nation's dominant position in the sport. Other Saudi brands, meanwhile, have been promoted across recent club and international showpieces including Aramco, Riyadh Air and Visit Saudi. 'We have lost football to Saudi Arabia,' Blatter told German TV channel ntv. 'We offered it, and they took it. 'Surprisingly, there is no opposition to this within FIFA.' Blatter also spoke about his concerns about FIFA's newly-expanded Club World Cup, with the new-look, 32-team tournament held in the U.S. this summer. 'There's too much football,' Blatter said about the tournament. 'The same players and clubs are repeatedly affected, without adequate rest.' Blatter also said the extreme heat, which has been a backdrop throughout the summer tournament, is 'unhealthy and impertinent'. The players union, FIFPRO, is among the critics who have called on FIFA to reconsider selecting kickoff times for matches around the middle of the afternoon, to avoid the highest temperatures. Those slots, however, have been considered more attractive for broadcast audiences in Europe and Asia, though FIFA says it is looking at using covered stadiums for the warmest times. The 89-year-old Swiss was also critical of the leadership of his successor as FIFA president Gianni Infantino. 'Everything is done electronically, and nobody says anything,' said Blatter. 'You can even arrive six hours late to a congress.' In May, FIFA's Congress in Paraguay was delayed because Infantino had not arrived on time for the scheduled start time in Asuncion, having decided to join the U.S. president Donald Trump for a visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. A meeting of the FIFA Council earlier in the week also had to be altered to a virtual meeting. Advertisement Blatter became FIFA president in 1998. His reign as the most powerful figure in football was not without its own controversies, with several corruption scandals hitting FIFA and the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 men's World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively attracting widespread criticism. Blatter said in 2022 that awarding that year's tournament to Qatar 12 years earlier had been 'a mistake'. In March this year, Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini were cleared of financial wrongdoing by an appeals court in Switzerland. In December 2015, Blatter and Platini were banned from football for eight years (later reduced to six on appeal) by FIFA after an investigation by its ethics committee. FIFA, and the Swiss authorities, alleged that a two million Swiss francs payment was to ensure Platini helped deliver the requisite votes to ensure Blatter was re-elected as FIFA president in 2011. Blatter and Platini have always denied wrongdoing and said the payment was a fee paid to the former for work he did as an advisor from 1998 to 2002, which was delayed as FIFA lacked the funds to pay him in full at the time. (Top image of FIFA president Gianni Infantino: Harold Cunningham – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Euronews
7 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
False image shows Inter Milan supporting Palestine with flag
An image going around online alleges that Italian football team Inter Milan has been waving the Palestinian flag ahead of its matches in solidarity with the people of Palestine. The photo shows children walking past the squad, giving the players on the field a high five while brandishing the flag. The posts on X containing the photo have captions such as "Inter Milan shows solidarity with Palestine before their game" and "Free Palestine", clearly framing it as having been recently taken. Ultimately, however, the image and its captions are misleading because the picture has been cropped. A reverse image search leads us to the original, posted on Getty Images, which dates back to 23 September 2009. This means it was taken well over a decade before the attacks which sparked the Israel-Hamas war on 7 October 2023, but still during the wider Israel-Palestine conflict, which has been going on for much longer. The Getty Images publication also shows that the photo shared online has been cropped. The original image shows both Israeli and Palestinian children from an Inter Milan camp, waving their respective flags and giving high-fives to players before a Serie A match against SSC Napoli. A further online search reveals that this scene was part of an Inter Campus event, where children from Inter camps all over the world spent a week in Italy "for a week of sport, education and fun", culminating in a lap of honour by each delegation before the Inter-Napoli match. The photo resurfaced again in 2015, attached to an article reporting on a proposal by former FIFA president Sepp Blatter to host a "peace match" between Israel and Palestine. The match ultimately did not take place. The reverse image search also shows us that this isn't the first time that the cropped image has been shared in this misleading way. It has appeared every few months since the 7 October attacks.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
England's Lionesses find a home from home at Zurich's fairy-tale 'castle'
The Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland is pictured on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. (Gaetan Bally/Keystone via AP) FILE - Members of the FIFA board, from left, Keith Cooper, Ken Naganuma, Mong-Joon Chung, Guillermo Canedo, Joao Havelange, Sepp Blatter, Lennart Johansson and Antonio Matarrese are seen in Zurich on May 31, 1996. (Christoph Ruckstuhl/Keystone via AP) The Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland is pictured on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. (Steffen Schmidt/Keystone via AP) The Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland is pictured on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. (Gaetan Bally/Keystone via AP) The Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland is pictured on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. (Gaetan Bally/Keystone via AP) The Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland is pictured on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. (Gaetan Bally/Keystone via AP) FILE - Members of the FIFA board, from left, Keith Cooper, Ken Naganuma, Mong-Joon Chung, Guillermo Canedo, Joao Havelange, Sepp Blatter, Lennart Johansson and Antonio Matarrese are seen in Zurich on May 31, 1996. (Christoph Ruckstuhl/Keystone via AP) The Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland is pictured on Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014. (Steffen Schmidt/Keystone via AP) The Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland is pictured on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. (Gaetan Bally/Keystone via AP) ZURICH (AP) — England's hotel at the Women's European Championship is a 'home from home,' although it is likely a step above the players' normal abodes. Nestled in the woods on top of a hill overlooking Zurich and flaunting an array of spires and cupolas, the iconic Dolder Grand looks like a castle that has jumped straight out of a book of fairy tales. Advertisement Inside, old-world grandeur with chandeliers and sweeping staircases meets sleek modernity, as well as panoramic views over Lake Zurich and the Alps. 'My first 24 hours here I was just going 'Whoa, whoa!' the whole time,' said England defender Esme Morgan, who plays for Washington Spirit in the United States. 'We feel very lucky with how well we've been taken care of and its sort of the perfect base for us to go on through the tournament and where everyone can just relax and get together to watch the other games.' The players can also relax by perusing the Dolder Grand's art collection with more than 100 works by artists including Salvador Dalí and actor Sylvester Stallone. Advertisement The hotel has a 4,000 square-meter spa, that includes an infinity hot tub with stunning views — an ideal place for the Lionesses to recover after a match. England began its title defense by losing to France 2-1 on Saturday and next plays on Wednesday against the Netherlands in Group D. 'We feel super welcome' Rooms at the Dolder Grand start at 740 Swiss Francs ($930) a night for a double to around 14,500 Swiss Francs ($18,300) for the two-floor Presidential Suite — which, like some of the other suites, includes a butler service. The Dolder Grand — which featured in the movie 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' — was chosen after a year-long search by the English Football Association, with staff having the perhaps enviable job of visiting 23 facilities, tasked with finding the team a home from home. Advertisement 'About a year ago, for the first time, I stepped into the door of the Dolder and we could just feel the excitement of the hotel staff,' said the team's general manager, Anja van Ginhoven. 'One of the first things they said to us, similar to The Lensbury (on the outskirts of London where the Lionesses stayed in 2022), they said 'We want to be part of this.' 'We feel super welcome and very supported. All they want to do is give us a great home away from home.' The Lionesses arrived on their team bus, shortly after flying into Zurich, and were greeted by beaming hotel staff. Guests normally arrive by car — often very nice ones — or by a short journey up on the rack-and-pinion railway, which has its terminus adjacent to the hotel. Advertisement The hotel dates back to 1899 although it underwent an extensive renovation at the start of the century, led by Norman Foster. Dignitaries and film stars Apart from the reigning European champions, the Dolder Grand has hosted a plethora of celebrities, from Hollywood stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Leonardo DiCaprio, to the Rolling Stones, as well as royalty and dignitaries including Winston Churchill, the Shah of Persia and King Charles, when he was a bachelor prince. The Dolder Grand also had a cameo role in FIFA business and soccer conferences during the presidency of Sepp Blatter that ended in 2015. Advertisement During the now-notorious World Cup bidding contests for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, scandal implicated two FIFA executive committee members weeks before they were due to vote. FIFA vice president Reynald Temarii was staying at the Dolder Grand the night before he was due for a dressing-down meeting with Blatter at FIFA headquarters. In 1996, the hotel is also where FIFA — with Blatter as secretary general — formally sealed the diplomatic deal to have World Cup co-hosts for the first time, awarding the 2002 edition to Japan and South Korea. Uncertain stay Just how long England will be able to enjoy the grande dame of Zurich hotels remains to be seen. Sarina Wiegman's team also faces the Netherlands and Wales in Group D. Advertisement Football may or not be 'coming home' — as England's team anthem goes — but the Lionesses might not want to. ___ AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this report ___ AP soccer:
The Independent
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Gianni Infantino arrives at his moment but football's response is coming
Gianni Infantino doesn't tend to use notes, so his addresses at Friday's official dinner for the Club World Cup in Miami will likely be off the cuff. He does have a personal charm, which will be deployed to full effect as he greets the US political hierarchy. Infantino already knows many from his visits to Mar-a-Lago, just an hour away. As of Thursday evening, there were no firm plans to greet the less celebrated figures of the media, for the type of press conference he conducted on the eve of the 2022 World Cup. We can probably guess how Infantino 'feels', either way. The perma-smile in his excitable Instagram feed says enough. This is Infantino's moment. This is his tournament. There has never been a football competition so anchored to one man, in the way this Club World Cup is. Infantino's 'dream', to quote insiders, is being realised. This is what he has wanted since rising to president in 2016, after the US state investigations that ended the Sepp Blatter era. Fifa is not just back in the country a decade after that, but essentially in partnership with the Donald Trump administration. Infantino even dutifully dismissed any 'concerns' about ICE agents attending Club World Cup games to probe supporters. That informs an argument that the Republican government has made the US the least welcoming of any modern host to fans, but Fifa have little to say on this. 'I don't have any concerns about anything,' Infantino stated when asked about the security issue. Why would he? Infantino will no doubt feel like 'the king of soccer' right now, to quote his friend, Trump. Many in the game are eagerly awaiting what superlatives the US president will bestow on 'Johnny' this weekend, if only for the sketch-show element of it all. Elon Musk might have gone from Trump's side but Infantino is still there. Trump's words, however, are likely to deviate from a more common description in the game over the past few weeks. That is that Infantino certainly seems far more concerned with actually coming across as a 'king of soccer', than the president of all 211 football associations, who he is supposed to serve as a priority of his role. It certainly didn't look like that at his own federation's Congress in Paraguay, when the Fifa president arrived late - missing numerous official appointments - because he was in Saudi Arabia with Trump. That only made for the latest example of Infantino brazenness, in-keeping with many decisions for the staging of the Club World Cup, like how Lionel Messi's Inter Miami controversially qualified. Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and his Executive Committee were so incensed by the disrespect in Paraguay that they staged a walk-out, albeit one that was walked back a few days later. They stated it was an 'isolated' protest, as sources privately insist they just didn't want a full-blown conflict between the two federations. Far more relevant might still have been Uefa's official statement on the day of Infantino's arrival, which is understood to have been crafted by more established figures in the confederation. Infantino was directly criticised for prioritising 'private political interests'. If nothing else, it is a weighty phrase to introduce to football's public record, especially since it directly comes from one of the major bodies. It also brings into the public domain what many senior figures have been saying in private. They maintain that what we are seeing is not just the evolution of the game due to market forces, but the conscious selling-off of football, to far greater forces. 'It's really the story of our time,' one source says. Large sections of Fifa, Uefa and the wider game are getting increasingly frustrated with how so many decisions are taken above their heads, affording little debate or input. The nexus of interests that the Club World Cup represents seems such a clear example. The idea might initially have been noble, but there has been considerable political agitation about its implementation. You only have to look at how the actual US Soccer federation has been completely sidelined, from both this and the 2026 World Cup. It was why the late arrival at Congress was so symbolic, not least because Fifa and the game are supposed to belong to the members, who represent fans and the amateur levels. And here were Trump and Saudi Arabia placed way above all that. As one source said, it's hard to imagine Infantino doing that to club owners. They're the figures he wants to be an important actor with now, having already developed an alliance with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez. As ever, it's impossible to divorce this from the absurd level of power that football's executive presidents are afforded, and how it can change people. Essentially random administrators - 'some guy', to quote many in the game - are elevated to a sphere they could never have imagined. The most remarkable thing is that this structure remained in place even after the 2015 upheaval. A joint statement by NGOs, academics, whistleblowers and supporters groups on that anniversary even argued it has got worse, stating 'Fifa is arguably more poorly governed today than a decade ago'. And yet some of this is about Infantino himself. He was supposed to be the great reformer, bringing a hands-off presidency, only to be even more hands on. While Infantino was seen as a highly competent general secretary at Uefa, the consensus is that there was always an ego there. The role has accelerated a change that would happen to most people. The wonder is whether this moment will bring everything too far. FairSquare already talk of how 'he's turned Fifa into an elite PR machine for authoritarian states'. The Club World Cup could even be construed as a medium-term alternative to the Champions League for the Saudi Pro League, that is a disruptor for the sport. Infantino meanwhile doesn't address these issues anywhere, other than meaningless doublespeak about how 'football will unite the world'. His most prominent media appearance in the build-up to the Club World Cup was with YouTuber IShowSpeed - where he managed to aggravate Cristiano Ronaldo's camp for revealing transfer tittle-tattle. The image is of a figure who 'just doesn't care', but concern is consequently growing in the game. Members of the Fifa Council are worried. A rump is growing in Europe, despite Uefa being seen as having 'bottled it' after the quick climbdown from the Paraguay statement. Even in England, senior football figures are trying to point all of this out to politicians, who are otherwise concerned whether Fifa will see the independent regulator as political interference. 'Gianni himself thinks he's in some triumvirate with Trump and Mohammed bin Salman,' one source says. They surely don't. He's subjecting himself to bigger powers. Other senior figures are beginning to consider challenging him for the 2027 elections, or even persuading people like Nasser Al-Khelaifi or Javier Tebas to be potential candidates. That's all for the future, though. Right now, this is the moment Infantino has waited for.
Forbes
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
FIFA Club World Cup: All You Need To Know About The Tournament
FIFA's newest tournament gets underway in Miami on Saturday night, as Inter Miami and Al Ahly kick off the revamped Club World Cup. Once famously dubbed a "mistake" by former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, the expanded Club World Cup is Gianni Infantino's latest gamble to boost his political influence and generate significant revenue. The real question is whether fan interest will match this ambition. While a month-long, 32-team showdown might initially sound appealing, the considerable gap in quality between European clubs and their global counterparts could result in a lopsided competition. As is typical with FIFA, legitimate concerns are often dismissed in the pursuit of "growing the game." Thus, the Club World Cup is set to become a regular quadrennial event, mirroring the traditional World Cup cycle. Here is all you need to know about the tournament. There are 32 teams competing at the Club World Cup, representing each of FIFA's six confederations and split in eight groups of four. UEFA has the biggest contingent with 12 European teams in the competition, followed by six South American teams from CONMEBOL and five from Concacaf, the North and Central American confederation. Asia and Africa have four teams each through the AFC and CAF confederations, while the OFC has one sole representative. Brazil and the USA are the only two nations with more than two teams at the tournament. The former will be represented by Botafogo, Palmeiras, Fluminense and Flamengo, while Inter Miami, Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles FC will fly the Stars and Stripes. Inter Miami is in Group A with Palmeiras, Portugal's Porto and Al Ahly from Egypt, while Seattle Sounders joins Botafogo, Atletico Madrid and freshly-crowned European champions Paris Saint-Germain in Group B. Los Angeles FC, meanwhile, is in Group D along with Chelsea, Flamengo and CAF powerhouse Esperance de Tunis. Group C includes soccer royalty in the shape of Bayern Munich, Benfica and Boca Juniors, who are joined by Auckland City, the OFC's only representative. Inter Milan and River Plate are the headliners in Group E along with Mexican side Monterrey and Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds, while Group F could throw up some surprises with Borussia Dortmund joined by South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns, South Korea's Ulsan HD and Brazilian juggernaut Fluminense. Manchester City and Juventus are the clear favourites in Group G, which also includes Morocco's Wydad AC and Al Ain from the United Arab Emirates. Finally, Group H sees 15-time Champions League winners Real Madrid pitted against Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal, Mexican side Pachuca and Austria's Red Bull Salzburg. The tournament gets underway on June 14 when Inter Miami faces Al Hilal at Hard Rock Stadium at 8pm ET. The group stage ends on June 26, with the Round of 16 starting two days later and running until July 1. The quarter-finals will be held on July 4 and July 5, with the two semi-finals to take place on July 8 and July 9 and the final on July 13. The tournament takes place across 11 different US venues in what is effectively a dress rehearsal for next year's World Cup. MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, will host both semi-finals and the final. The other 10 host cities are Nashville, Cincinnati, Orlando, Miami, Washington, D.C., Pasadena, Seattle, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Charlotte. Qualification for the Club World Cup followed two main routes: success in continental competitions and each confederation's ranking system. This meant automatic qualification for every winner of the UEFA Champions League, Copa Libertadores, Concacaf Champions Cup, and the equivalent Asian and African tournaments from 2021 to 2024. Additional spots were then allocated to the highest-ranked teams within each confederation. A key restriction for European clubs, however, meant that only the two highest-ranked teams per country on the UEFA ranking system could participate. This rule notably excluded Liverpool, who reached the 2022 Champions League final, and reigning LaLiga champions Barcelona. Similarly, seven-time European Cup winners AC Milan was also left out, a consequence of their historical underperformance in European competitions. The USA received an extra spot as tournament hosts, meaning their 2024 domestic champions would qualify. So far, so straightforward. Except that FIFA decide the domestic champions were Inter Miami, who finished with the best regular season record in the MLS, rather than Los Angeles Galaxy, who won the MLS Cup in December. Inter Miami, of course, happens to be Lionel Messi's club. The tournament follows the same format of the FIFA World Cup before it was expanded to 48 teams. The top two teams in each group qualify for the knockout stages, with each group winner playing a runner-up from another group in the Round of 16. The winner of Group A plays the runner-up in Group B, and the winner of Group B plays the runner-up in Group A. The same applies to Group C and Group D, Group E and Group F and Group G and Group H. The eight winners advance to the quarter-finals, where they will face a team on their side of the draw for a place in the last four. The same applies in the semi-finals, with the two winners reaching the final. Clubs from any confederation other than UEFA have been kept apart in the group stages and cannot play each other until the knockout phase. The same applies to teams from the same country, who have been kept separate in the group phase. Yes, it did. It was introduced in 2000 as the FIFA Club World Championship and it ran parallel to the Intercontinental Cup, which pitted the winner of the Champions League against the winner of the Copa Libertadores. The two competitions merged in 2005 and the tournament was rebranded as Club World Cup the following year and it's been contested annually ever since. The number of teams expanded from seven to 32 this year and under the new format the torunament will be played only once every four years, just like the FIFA World Cup itself. Manchester City is technically still the reigning champions after beating Fluminense 4-in the final two years ago. DAZN secured the rights to all 63 games by pouring $1bn into FIFA's coffers and will stream each match live and in multiple languages. In the USA, selected fixtures will be shown in English on TNT and in Spanish on TUDN, Univision, or UniMas. FIFA described its deal with DAZN as a 'landmark agreement', a stance echoed by the broadcaster. 'It's hard to know how big the Club World Cup will be, but we can see from the data already that it's not going to be small,' DAZN's chief executive of growth markets, Pete Oliver told The Athletic. "It'll be big, it's just a question of how big.'
