Presidents Meet: AIFF's Praful Patel & FIFA's Sepp Blatter regarding 2017 FIFA Under-17

The president of the All India Football Federation Praful Patel has travelled to Zurich and today met with FIFA President Joseph Blatter, FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke and Thierry Regenass, FIFA Director Member Associations and Development Vision, at FIFA Headquarters to dicsuss the issues relating to the guarantees from the Government of India required by FIFA regarding the hosting of the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup.

Praful Patel explained to Sepp Blatter and Mr. Valcke that all the requirements mentioned in the guarantees are fulfilled by the existing legislations of the country and the Government of India had already sent a letter to FIFA explaining the same and giving its unequivocal support for hosting the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup.

The Government of India letter was also supported by a legal opinion endorsing the declaration by the Government of India though in recent interactions FIFA was critical of the guarantees given by the Government of India.

As per the AIFF the meeting was very positive and FIFA agreed to review the letter of the Government of India and the legal opinion with their legal department and requested the AIFF to send their legal advisors for a meeting with FIFA so that the matter can be explained to them in greater detail.

It seems not all is lost in India's quest to host the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup.

(Photo courtesy AIFF Media)

VIDEO: Documentary on Launch of first AIFF Regional Academy

The All India Football Federation in collaboration with world football governing body FIFA launched its first Regional Academy at the Father Agnel School premises in Vashi, Navi Mumbai on May 1, 2012. This is the first of four such Academies to come-up across India and here a documentary on the launch and reactions from key stakeholders and personal involved in the Academy.

Blatter: There can't be World Football without India!

FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter on his South Asian tour is currently in New Delhi. During the day he met President of India Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss football's future before sitting down with the AIFF top brass.

Blatter has over the last few years said again and again around the world that India is the sleeping giant of football, which he now see's to be waking-up.

"To wake up a sleeping giant you need several alarm clocks. We have set up several alarm clocks to monitor them. I am in my 30th year in FIFA and 13th year as the president. My tenure ends in 2015 but I won't leave FIFA until I see the sport established in the sub-continent of India," said Blatter.

He went on to state, "India playing a part for the development of World Football!"

AIFF president Praful Patel announced that India would be making two significant bids as far as world football is concerned. "India are staging a serious bid to host the U-17 World Cup in 2017," Praful Patel said to the media. "Apart from that, we would also bid to host the 2015 World Club Cup. Both the Tournaments would provide an excellent opportunity for our players to rub shoulders with the best of the world," the AIFF president maintained.

"I understand that there are challenges and limitations as well. But we will overcome all for the cause of the sport," Praful Patel added.

Sepp Blatter did not make any comment on the above moves of the AIFF as he diplomatically said, "FIFA stay a democratic setup. Both are positive developments no doubt. But it's upto the FIFA Executive Committee to decide."

Praful Patel added, "The two bids set a target for the AIFF and also the Government of India. We stay aware of the lack of good infrastructure at the moment. But I assure you, we will overcome all."

"The Prime Minister wants to see India as one of the premier Footballing nations. Nothing can be more inspirational for Indian football."

Patel told Blatter that he would get all the bid papers before leaving the country.

Sepp Blatter summed up the mood, "There cannot be world football without India," as the 75-year-old Swiss was accompanied by two FIFA executive committee members Zhang Zilong (Acting President of the Asian Football Confederation), and Manilal Fernando.

Is Indian Football ready for Sepp Blatter?

It is a provocative question, but it has to be asked then friends at FIFA reiterate again and again the point that the world football governing body would like to see a strong India amongst the footballing nations, first in Asia and then the world. This simply has to do with the growing market that the India economy is for FIFA and world football, but for me who supports and loves Indian football, I see no harm then football these days at the top international level is a commercial product - nothing more and nothing less.

Now FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter is back in India, nearly four years after his first visit in April 2007 to Kolkata and New Delhi. Now Mr. Blatter is not in India on a courtesy call or a simple visit to one of the 208 member nations. He is in India to see for himself where the nations stands, interact with the football authorities to get a personal feel.

Surely the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup is something which could push development in Indian football, but a big question remains who would fund and organise/coordinate the development of necessary infrastructure - stadia, hotels, roads and airports if 24 national youth teams from around the world come to India with six cities having to host one of the groups.

India surely has shown with the 2011 Cricket World Cup and the first-ever Formula 1 race at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida that if sports on a large scale is organised privately it can succeed, the counter example is the 2010 Commonwealth Games which was organised by the government.

Mr. Blatter and FIFA will know all th above facts, so lets see if our football authorities can convince them that they are a capable lot...

FIFA president Blatter set to visit India in March!

The president of world football governing body FIFA, Joseph S. Blatter, will be visiting the Indian capital New Delhi on March 9/10, 2012. India is part of his itinerary while visiting three south Asian nations.

Besides visiting India Blatter will also go to neighbouring Nepal, who at the time are hosting the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup (March 8 to 19), and Bangladesh.

"Blatter's visit shows how much importance FIFA is giving to India. The world body's support in building the right kind of infrastructure in the country has been beyond our expectations," AIFF vice-president Subrata Dutta.

Blatter's India visit is no courtesy call. FIFA is trying to help India develop its football and FIFA have done a lot in recent years. Be it the global GOAL projects, the special 'Win in India with India' program of developing artificial turfs, further grants to develop the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai plus recently the National Football Academy and four Regional Centres.

FIFA is also pushing India to try and host the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup. But the lack of necessary infrastructure and administration would be a hinderance for India to be hosts.

AIFF president Praful Patel has requested Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to spare some time from his busy schedule for Sepp Blatter, while he is in Delhi. An appointment is yet to be confirmed.

This would be Blatter's second visit to India as FIFA president. He first visited Kolkata and Delhi in April 2007, when he watched the Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal 'Kolkata derby' and then in Delhi met the heads of Indian industry.

Special VIP enclosure at Frankfurt Stadium for Blatter denied

It is one of the weirdest stories I have heard in recent times. According to German media reports there had been a request from FIFA to the German FA (DFB) to rebuild the VIP enclosure at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt as the FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter would like to sit on the middle line at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup final on July 17.

This is not possible at the Frankfurt ground due to a staircase going through down the middle, which would have split the VIP enclosure into two halves and that is not wanted. The FIFA requested the DFB to change this, which would only be possible at a cost of 18,000 Euros which FIFA wasn't willing to pay.

The so-called 'Blatter-Block' affair was stopped on Friday by DFB president Dr. Theo Zwanziger once he got to know about these crazy plans. He sorted it out in a conversation with FIFA Women's head Tatjana Haenni.

Zwanziger said, "When I heard about the plans it was immediately clear to me that these plans would not be implemented. With all due respect to structural measures, which we the DFB also carry out for the German Cup and international matches, at some point a limit is reached. We will present ourselves in Frankfurt as suitable hosts though a staircase will go through the middle of the VIP enclosure."

FIFA withdrew its request, while the criticism against FIFA and its president grows further with such weird requests.

Bin Hammam & Warner suspended by FIFA

The much awaited hearing of top FIFA officials by the FIFA Ethics Committee was held yesterday in Zurich. And after the hearing the committee announced that executive committee members Mohammed bin Hammam and Jack Warner have been provisionally suspended, while its president Joseph S. Blatter has been cleared of any wrong doing.

After the suspension the football governing body will now open a full investigation into allegations that financial incentives were offered to members of the Caribbean Football Union by Mr. bin Hammam on advice from Jack Warner at a meeting organised by Jack Warner in Trinidad on May 10/11. Mr. bin Hammam had confessed that he had taken care of the costs involved (flights, accommodation) for the CFU members, but had not done anything else wrong.

Now the issue which has hit FIFA is that Jack Warner is said to have advised Mr. bin Hammam to pay incentives to CFU members to vote for him. Depending on importance and size these football associations was offered between 10,000 to 40,000 USD. Mr. bin Hamman is said to have arrived with 1 Million USD in cash stacked in bundles of 10,000 USD and what was supposed to happen to the rest of the cash is unknown, but likely an incentive for Jack Warner to have organised the meeting.

Jack Warner had told everyone to keep the payment a secret, but there have been whistle blowers amongst the CFU members who passed on the information to executive member Chuck Blazer from the United States who in turn informed FIFA headquarters.

Interestingly Mr. bin Hammam claimed that Sepp Blatter knew about what was going on Trinidad, but didn't step in while it isn't clear if Jack Warner had spoken about the incentive with Sepp Blatter.


For the Asian Football Confederation president and until yesterday FIFA presidency contestant Mohammed bin Hammam the whole verdict is not unstandable as he fails to understand how despite him not being found guilty, he has been suspended.

"I have been referred to the Ethics Committee based on evidence which was strong enough in the views of the FIFA General Secretary for such procedure. However, the Ethics Committee in it's meeting did not find this evidence sufficient to convict me. Consequently, I should have been given the benefit of doubt but instead, I have been banned from all football activities."

And it seems FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke is the man whom Mr. bin Hammam is blaming for the whole situation as he added, "I have been given the impression that the Ethics Committee is absolutely an independent committee, but in the press conference we have seen today, the General Secretary made clear that he is the one who has the influence in this Committee."

"I'm very disappointed about the way the status of the proceeding has been presented at the media conference. I am expecting that this will continue. This is not how I understand fair play. I’m reserving all my rights," added Mr. bin Hammam.

The other accused Jack Warner claimed that, at the CONCACAF Congress on May 3 in Miami, Blatter gave "a gift of 1 million USD to CONCACAF to spend as it deems fit" despite the "annoyance" of UEFA president Michel Platini.

Warner alleged that Valcke silenced Platini's protestations by insisting he would "find the money for Mr Blatter" although the payment was not authorized by the Finance Committee. Warner further alleged that Blatter gave the CFU "gifts of laptops and projectors" on May 10.

Further Warner has said that in private conversations Jerome Valcke has suggested that Qatar had bought the rights to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Meanwhile FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke said at the FIFA organised press conference that the FIFA presidential election would go ahead as planned on June 1, with incumbent Sepp Blatter now running unopposed. And when asked by journalists Jerome Valcke added only the FIFA Congress could postpone the presidential elections.

Is seems we will have three interesting days ahead of us...

Bin Hammam to contest FIFA top job elections

The president of the Asian Football Confederation Mohamed bin Hammam today officially announced his candidature for the post of FIFA president. Bin Hammam held at the headquarters of the AFC in Kuala Lumpur a press conference to end weeks of speculation if the AFC president would challenge incumbent Sepp Blatter in the FIFA presidential elections on June 1, 2011 in Zurich.

The 61 year old Qataris administrative career stated early at the age of 24 as the president of local Qatari club Al Rayyan, he went on to become the Qatar Football Association president in 1992 before becoming a member of the FIFA Executive Committee in 1996 and has been president of the Asian Football Confederation since August 2002. Bin Hammam has also headed the volleyball and tennis federations of his country.

Bin Hammam has brought about a lot of change within Asian football over the last decade. When he took over the charge at the AFC in 2002 it was an amateur body with a base in Kuala Lumpur. Now the AFC Champions League is a thriving continental club championship just like the AFC Asian Cup, creating competitions for nations who developing and with Vision Asia has started a program to overlook the overall development of football and its professionalisation across the continent.

He wants to take all this to FIFA if he is made the president as he is seeing the game drifting away from its roots and its base - the footballer and the fans.


Outlining his election manifesto bin Hammam said, "I will always put in mind and consider among other things the diversity of the interests and the views of different football stake holders; member associations, clubs, leagues, players and officials; the demands from the public to keep FIFA and football organisations above accusations and suspicion of negative practice; the demands of the public to create an absolute, ethical, democratic and transparent environment within FIFA; the necessity for strong unity and solidarity among member associations; the need for fair distribution of World Cup revenues between the different stake holders, taking into consideration that FIFA must build sufficient reserves to help it through difficult times and the principal of solidarity must pervade for all of our stakeholders. I will always put into consideration the need and the requirement of economically underprivileged member associations to have more technical and financial support to enable them to close the gap between their nations and those of the advanced football nations."

He also proposed the formation of a FIFA Board in place of the existing FIFA Executive Committee, if elected, and increase the number of seats for all the confederations.

"I propose UEFA gets four more seats, CAF four more seats, Asia four more seats, CONCACAF three more seats, CONMEBOL one more seat and OFC one more seat. A new executive committee will be coming, 40 members plus the president is 41 and it will avoid as much as possible for the privilege of the casting vote going to the president," he said.

"I will rename the Executive Committee the FIFA Board and will transfer all the duties and the responsibilities of the Executive Committee as it is today to the FIFA Board. I will establish an Executive Office. The President of FIFA will be the Chairman and the six presidents of the six confederations will be the members of this office. This office will be responsible to execute the decision of the Board. Collectively and jointly, the President of FIFA and the Presidents of the confederations will be responsible for executing the decisions of the FIFA Board."

"Secondly, I will decentralise the activities of the FIFA administration. The legal matters, like the statutes and international transfers, and statutory issues can be handled directly by the confederations under the supervision of their executive bodies."

"I will establish a Transparency Committee. FIFA has an Ethical Committee checking acts after they happen. The Transparency Committee is going to be sure that all the acts of FIFA are sufficiently transparent to the public before they take place."

"I also propose to increase the financial assistance to the member associations from US$250,000 to US$500,000 per year and I also propose that the budget of the Goal Project, for each project, to be increased up to US$1 million per project."


Ambitious aims if bin Hammam becomes FIFA president, but now the interesting phase begins on who can garner as many votes possible from the 208 member nations and territories.


Here a link to the video of:
the complete Mohamed bin Hamman press conference .

S.I. writer Wahl tries to take on Sepp Blatter

When I first read it I thought it was a publicity stunt or somewhat of a gimmick, but Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl seems serious on taking on all powerful FIFA president Sepp Blatter in the elections for the head of world football on May 31/June 1.

And the Net's social media especially Twitter is the medium which is spreading the message of Wahl's idea, but he just can't put his name onto the ballot as he needs one of the 208 FIFA federations to nominate him for the presidential elections.

"A lot of it is about sending a message to FIFA on behalf of world soccer fans - that people want to see change," the 37-year-old Wahl told Reuters on Sunday.

"The reaction has been extremely positive from world soccer fans. It has been very global, which doesn't totally surprise - I travel a lot and I know there is a lot of dissatisfaction with FIFA."

Wahl knows that it is very unlikely that even if nominated he would stand a chance, but Blatter could face opposition from the AFC president Mohamed bin Hamman.

Wahl's intention is to show FIFA that its running isn't really accepted in the world of football. And if nominated then Wahl could take on Blatter in a debate at the CONCACAF Congress on May 3 in Miami.

It will be interesting to see if something really comes out of this campaign by one football journalist...

VIDEO: Ian Holloway blasts Blatter/Platini

Here is an interesting press conference with FC Blackpool coach Ian Holloway who gets into a rage about the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the potential shift to a winter slot due to the heat. And he then goes on to mock FIFA president Sepp Blatter and criticises UEFA president Michel Platini. Sadly Holloway's stats are utterly rubbish, but is he right with his criticism?

The press conference hasn't been greatly covered in the international media, but still I thought it would be of interest to you all!

Blatter: Now we conquer China & India!

After handing the 2018 FIFA World Cup to Russia and the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar to conquer new markets in Russia and the Middle East, FIFA is now looking at the next markets it wants to establish football in and those are set to be China and India.

If talk out of Zurich is taken seriously then the 2026 FIFA World Cup could go to the United States, while in 2030 the FIFA World Cup could return to Asia with China and India the top candidates. So we come to some earlier blog entries from me where I had mentioned this as a real opportunity. Surely today India has no chance against China due to its football, infrastructure, administration, etc; but in 20 years? Who knows...

In what will be courting with harsh reactions out of Europe Sepp Blatter told the Swiss weekly magazine 'Weltwoche', "I really sense in some reactions a bit of the arrogance of the western world of Christian background. Some simply can't bear it if others get a chance for a change. What can be wrong if we start football in regions where this sport demonstrates a potential which goes far beyond sport?"

And what should make us in India listen-up is Blatter's following statement, "It's my philosophy to drive forward the expansion of football. The next regions that we need to conquer would be China and India."

Blatter ended by saying, "Football has become a political matter. Heads of state court me. Football has become a monster, but it's a positive monster."

FIFA is already supporting India through the GOAL projects I & II, the 'Win in India with India' program, a grant of US-Dollar 2 Million for infrastructure and other administrative help. So lets see where it takes our football...

Blatter considers World Cup changes

In an interview with the German weekly magazine Focus for their next edition coming out on Monday FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said that certain changes could be applied to group stage matches in FIFA World Cup's to make it more entertaining and attractive. And those changes surely sound interesting, but once more they don't have anything to do with technology.

Mr. Blatter had made some suggestions for changes about six years back, but those ideas were not excepted by FIFA's governing body. The last real changes came with the implementation of the golden goal rule and then making it fairer with the silver goal rule, which was later scrapped altogether after only being in existence for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France on the global stage. And the only championship to be decided by golden goal was the 1996 European Championship finals at London's Wembley Stadium when Germany beat the Czech Republic 2-1 through an Oliver Bierhoff golden goal.

Now Mr. Blatter is considering of proposing certain changes like abolishing draws in preliminary group stage matches in World Cup's. His suggestion is to have direct penalty shootouts to decide a winner or adding a sudden-death overtime. This the FIFA president thinks could force teams to take a more pro-active approach in the 90 minutes in the group stages then a rather wait and watch approach, which often bored fans around the world in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

I personally feel it is an interesting idea! And it should be tried and tested at Youth World Cup's and if found fit could be implemented at senior level. It could help avoid too many of those boring goalless draws and if the winners are given two points and the loser one, then it could open up the whole group equations. But now one will have to wait and see if Mr. Blatter just mentioned these changes in an interview or if he seriously would pursue these changes for the good of the game. Also one would have to see what other FIFA members and the footballers themselves say.