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Sepp Blatter, FIFA chief for 17 years until 2015, has blasted new proposal that moves ‘people’s game’ further from fans. Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has slammed the football governing body’s plans to create a $20bn subsidiary to run the World Cup, saying the tournament was not a commercial asset that belonged to a few executives. “Football belongs to no individual and to no institution. It belongs to the people,” Blatter told the news agency Reuters on Wednesday. “If FIFA were transferred into a profit-oriented corporate structure, it would lose its soul,” added Blatter, who was FIFA president for 17 years until 2015. FIFA said on Tuesday it plans to create the subsidiary to run the World Cup and its other events, and will offer stakes of up to 20 percent in it to external investors.
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The move has provoked a furious response from European football authorities, including UEFA, which said FIFA was putting the game up for sale.
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