Quotes from Sepp Blatter's FIFA career
Blatter, 79, had helmed the world football's governing body for 17 years since 1998. - Filepic
Sepp Blatter, who stepped down on Tuesday as a mounting corruption scandal engulfed world football's governing body FIFA just days after being reelected to a fifth term, is famed for his controversial quotes, here are five that have marked football history:
- "Crisis? What is a crisis? Football is not in a crisis." -- Blatter in May 2011 amid an earlier major corruption scandal
- "Let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball. They could, for example, have tighter shorts. Female players are pretty, if you excuse me for saying so, and they already have some different rules to men – such as playing with a lighter ball. That decision was taken to create a more female aesthetic, so why not do it in fashion?" -- Blatter in 2004 talking about women's football
- "I consider myself a little bit as a godfather of the organization of women's football in FIFA" -- Blatter in 2015, urging a better marketing of women's football ahead of the World Cup in Canada.
- "Every game should have a winner. When you play cards or any other game, there's always a winner and a loser. We should have the courage to introduce a final decision in every game of football." -- Blatter in 2004 when proposing the possibility of abolishing draws and making goal posts wider apart.
- "There are not many names the media haven't thrown at me in the last few years. I would be lying to you if I said it did not hurt. You ask yourself: 'What have I done?'" -- Blatter in 2014 discussing his treatment by the international media.
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