FIFA president Sepp Blatter has criticised the 50,000 euro ($64,850) fine handed to AS Roma for racist behaviour by their fans, describing the sanction as too weak and unacceptable. Blatter said he would call the Italian football federation, who he said had not been thorough enough in investigating Sunday's incident in the match at AC Milan.
"What is surprising and is not understandable for me, is that the disciplinary committee of the Italian Football Federation has taken a decision, not even 24 hours after the event, by just imposing a fine," he told FIFA.com. They have not made any investigation of what happened. And just to give a pecuniary sanction is not valid, that is not acceptable. You will always find money. What is 50.000 Euros for such an incident? I'm not happy and I will call the Italian Federation. That's not a way to deal with such matters."
Blatter added: "I think lessons have not been learned. It is incredible, that we had such incidents especially in the Italian Serie A in the San Siro between AC Milan and Roma, a very important match.
"The referee had to stop the match for a few minutes in order to bring back calm. This is bad."...
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06:51 PM, May 14, 2013
Kuala Lumpur: FIFA president Sepp Blatter dropped a hint he plans to stand again for another four year term as the head of world soccer's governing body during a speech to AFC delegates in Malaysia on Friday. Blatter had said he planned to step down from office at the end of his latest four-year term in 2015 but opened up a loophole in March by adding that was providing he...
10:19 AM, May 03, 2013
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11:10 PM, Apr 29, 2013
Geneva: A leading FIFA anti-corruption adviser resigned on Monday, claiming football's governing body failed to change its culture after bribery and vote-buying scandals. Alexandra Wrage, the president of international compliance expert TRACE, left an advisory panel chaired by Swiss law professor Mark Pieth which was asked to guide FIFA President Sepp Blatter's promised modernizing reforms. "(FIFA) remains the closed society that fueled its problems to begin with," the United States-based...
08:43 PM, Apr 22, 2013
Panama: Sepp Blatter gave his strongest hint yet that he may stay on for another four-year term as FIFA president beyond 2015, saying the scale of reform facing soccer's global governing body needed time. Blatter, 77, has indicated in the past he would not stand for a fifth consecutive term in two years' time but he told Reuters on Friday that he would not "abandon this boat" before he was...
08:02 AM, Apr 20, 2013
Zurich: FIFA president Sepp Blatter has expressed misgivings about the idea of relegation and points deductions as punishments for racism, suggesting it could encourage fans to deliberately try and get matches stopped. In January, the 77-year-old Swiss proposed the possible introduction of such sanctions for teams whose fans were guilty of racism but appeared to back away from that stance during a speech at an event in Zurich on Friday....
07:20 PM, Apr 05, 2013
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12:41 AM, Mar 22, 2013
FIFA president Blatter says that he will not stand for a fifth term when his current mandate ends in 2015 as long as there is a suitable candidate to replace him. ...
05:22 PM, Mar 21, 2013
Sepp Blatter says FIFA totally trusts Brazil will have stadiums and infrastructure ready for the 2014 World Cup. ...
08:46 PM, Mar 19, 2013
FIFA presidential hopeful Jerome Champagne says referees should be allowed to consult video replays and that football needs to accept the inevitable use of technology. ...
03:34 PM, Mar 11, 2013
IFA president Sepp Blatter arrived here to take part in the 35th Confederation of African Football (CAF) Ordinary General Assembly. ...
04:35 PM, Mar 10, 2013
Michel Platini's idea that Qatar share the 2022 World Cup hosting rights with its Middle East neighbours was "crazy", UAE soccer chief Yousuf Al Serkal said. ...
05:58 PM, Mar 07, 2013
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07:37 PM, Mar 02, 2013
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07:55 PM, Mar 01, 2013
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09:17 PM, Feb 27, 2013
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08:34 PM, Feb 25, 2013
FIFA has confirmed that goal-line technology will be used at the 2014 World Cup and has invited more providers to submit tenders. ...
05:39 PM, Feb 19, 2013
The governing body aims to approve tougher sanctions for racist abuse at football matches when its 209 member nations meet in May. ...
08:35 PM, Feb 15, 2013
FIFA's anti-corruption advisers urged Sepp Blatter's executive committee to "demonstrate leadership" and not undermine their efforts. ...
11:12 PM, Feb 08, 2013
The head of world soccer governing body FIFA said that cheats would always exist in the sport and it would be impossible to stop them, after revelations of a global match-fixing scandal this week. ...
08:15 PM, Feb 07, 2013
