Happy 75th Birthday Sepp Blatter!!!

Jordi wrote:Blimey, didn't expct this from you Ahly

But yes, I completely agree with the post.

ahlycotc wrote:

Jordi wrote:Blimey, didn't expct this from you Ahly

But yes, I completely agree with the post.

Why? It's not just the English who don't like him. And he is most likely planning on running for reelection.

How much longer, Sepp? He may not even know that himself: Joseph S Blatter is to turn 75 Thursday, with the will to stay on at the top of world football.

The Swiss has led football's international governing body FIFA since 1998, and barring a huge upset he will be re-elected on June 1 with another four-year mandate.

For Blatter, FIFA is part of his own family, almost like a wife. That is why he plans to spend at his office in Zurich a day that many would opt to take more calmly by looking upon the final stretch of their lives.

But Blatter acts like he still has his whole life before him, he smiles at those who dare challenge him once in a while, and in the end, he always wins. He wins so often, that he sometimes thinks he can do it even beyond football.

In March 2003 the president of FIFA felt invincible, able to change 2,000 years of history by convincing Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II to accept divorce. He wanted to marry Graziella, a friend of his daughter's, a dolphin coach and 26 years younger than himself.

"God is the God of love. Is this also the Church of love?" Blatter wondered in a letter addressed to the Vatican.

As if it were a football match, it eventually ended in a draw. The Swiss did not manage to remove the sin in the eyes of the church from his relations with his third wife, because the Vatican insisted on its centuries-old practice and still considered him married to his first wife.

But Blatter separated from Graziella within a few months, so his anger at the Church was soon muted. Deep down, he had not quite lost.

Born on March 10, 1936, his official CV shows Blatter as a former footballer, but a careful read tones this down: "played for the Swiss amateur league in the top division."

Nobody would, however, describe him as an amateur in his career as a sports official, because he has controlled key elements of FIFA for close to four decades.

Blatter entered the organization as development programme director, always in the shadow of the indeed shadowy FIFA president Joao Havelange. He then climbed to the position of secretary-general, and in May 1998 he was elected president in a vote whose fairness is still in doubt 13 years later.

Somewhat kitsch at times - he even donned a white suit in Las Vegas in 1993, to lead the World Cup draw, - Blatter is a polyglot and speaks German, French, English, Italian and Spanish. His federation features more countries than the United Nations, handles more funds than many states and exerts an influence in the life of the man on the street that only very few organizations can boast.

A member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 1999, Blatter has strongly clashed with the organization led by the Belgian Jacques Rogge and with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). He loves debating, and he likes being right even better. Being surrounded by powerful, influential people tops the list.

That is why in 2002 he dismissed his "fake son" Michel Zen- Ruffinen, a Swiss secretary-general who was discreet and efficient until he rebelled by denouncing that FIFA funds were being handled in an inappropriate, and perhaps even corrupt, fashion.

It was total war against Blatter. And Blatter won. That corruption case around marketing firm ISL/ISMM comes back to haunt Blatter every once in a while, but it has never affected him so much as to make him shake on his throne.

According to British journalist Andrew Jennings, a specialist in airing the dirty laundry of FIFA and the IOC, only two members of FIFA know how much Blatter gets paid for his work.

Football and FIFA are essentially a man's world. That may be why Blatter likes to be surrounded by women.

He also likes to socialize with players, and he gets along well with Brazilian legend Pele although the Argentine Diego Maradona remains a pebble in his shoe.

"Maradona, Maradona... What do you want me to do with Maradona?" he once told the German Press Agency dpa.

Football is almost everything in Blatter's life, and he only forgets about it when he watches crime movies at home.

Blatter took the World Cup to South Africa, is to hold it in Brazil in three years' time and dealt a double blow with Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022. He is not quite as innovative when it comes to promoting the use of technology to assist referees on the pitch.

Blatter almost always gets his way, and he knows it. And he enjoys that.

"Football is life, never death," he says.

Mal wrote:Grant Wahl for FIFA president.

Kuled wrote:gaddafi would make the refs tackle you if you disobey the rules

Danny wrote:One year closer until he fucks off, be happy.

Royal wrote:

Danny wrote:One year closer until he fucks off, be happy.

No one man should have all that power
The clock's tickin', I just count the hours.

Burytilidie wrote:cheers for giving the world cup to qatar prick

Burytilidie wrote:cheers for giving the world cup to qatar prick

Burytilidie wrote:i could, with russia its corrupt but bleeding qatar
my mates half iranian i said u may as well have the world cup in bleeding iran!!!!!!
but the joke is we got 2 votes well 1 actually cos one of the votes was from our ownselves . with apparently the best presentation and we have the best stadiums, the best league in the world imo and some of the worlds best players but no we will give it russia who have only a handful of big stadiums and a country that has a league that is on par with englands championship or the lower end of the premiership., but then 2022 fifa decide oh lets give it the great footballing nation qatar bleeding qatar! where would they be in the best leagues in the world? there league would be on par with our league 2 actually blue square premier and lets have the world cup in a place where its 50 degrees plus u cant have alcohol people want to have a good time at the world cup and they wont be able to cos of a lot of qatars strict rules. anyway rant over!

Fine Shagger wrote:English hate him, so I love him.

Danny wrote:One year closer until he fucks off, be happy.

EdinsonCavani wrote:

Fine Shagger wrote:English hate him, so I love him.

So do you hate liverpool fans then?

Fine Shagger wrote:

EdinsonCavani wrote:

Fine Shagger wrote:English hate him, so I love him.

So do you hate liverpool fans then?

This makes no sense.

EdinsonCavani wrote:

Fine Shagger wrote:

EdinsonCavani wrote:

Fine Shagger wrote:English hate him, so I love him.

So do you hate liverpool fans then?

This makes no sense.

But your implying you dont like English people so do you hate english fans at anfield then? Why do you even support them