It is a fact that attendances are in decline in Italy and England. Public
interest declines if there's too much football on TV. You always hear that FIFA
should have a solution ready and create a regulation. We should reduce the
number of teams in the professional leagues. The maximum should be 18 clubs.
We'll discuss this at Congress. A further problem is that you've hardly got any
players from the home country. Young players have no chance of making it in the
professional leagues any more, because coaches usually buy players from
overseas.
On the subject of club ownership in football:
This is a difficult topic, which we're examining on an ongoing basis in our
"For the Good of the Game" task force. You notice the existence of an
international group, based for example in the British Virgin Islands or on
Gibraltar, listed as part-owner of a club, and that's difficult. FIFA has a
regulation prohibiting multiple ownership of clubs. It's another subject we'll
be talking about at Congress.
On the 2014 FIFA World Cup:
The Executive Committee will decide on the host nation for the 2014 World Cup
in 2008. The Executive Committee adopted a resolution in favour of rotation, and
established that the 2010 World Cup would be in Africa, and the 2014 tournament
in South America. Every CONMEBOL member has said they would like Brazil to host
the tournament. Brazil are candidates, but the country must fulfil the
requirements in the mandatory regulations. We'll closely examine their candidacy
with the help of this list. We are not in favour of joint hosting, provided we
have a single candidate which fulfils the requirements.
On the book by Andrew Jennings:
He's just re-heated old stories. The book ought to be called "revenge foul".
He'd get a red card for that on the field of play.
On the election for FIFA President in 2007:
We have a responsibility to society, and I want to fulfil that. At the end of
the Congress in Munich, I will announce my willingness to serve from 2007
onwards, provided the associations want me. I'm healthy, I've just come through
a check-up, and everything was fine.
On doping control agency WADA:
In terms of doping controls, we'll deal with cases individually, which is
known as "Individual Case Management". That was always FIFA's goal. We'll need
to change our constitution a little, so that after Congress, we'll be WADA
compatible, and WADA will be FIFA compatible.
On the verdict from Charleroi:
The G14 was rejected in Charleroi. The 800 million is off the table. The
judge threw out the case. In one specific case, the judge referred the decision
over releasing the player to the Court of Justice in Luxembourg. That will take
another two years.
But there is a solution to hand. The most important thing is insurance for
the players. The players must be insured for international call-ups by the
clubs. The associations need to supervise that. We've established an insurance
fund for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, to cover the eventuality of players sustaining
serious injuries at the tournament. Clubs will be compensated in such cases.
FIFA Communications Director Markus Siegler on individual player commitments
to specific media during the FIFA World Cup:
A player is permitted to have contracts, but he must work together with all
sectors of the media. If we observe that a player doesn't fulfil the
requirements, we'll intervene. It's important that no exclusivity develops.
