https://www.scmp.com/rss/315972/feed Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter is a Swiss football administrator who has been president of Fifa since 1998. One of the most powerful men in world football, he has often been dogged by allegations of corruption. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Mike Chan,Lars Hamer Mike Chan,Lars Hamer Known lovingly as the “mother of Asian women’s football”, the founding president of the Hong Kong Ladies Football Association (HKLFA) Veronica Chan Yiu-kam has died, aged 102. Pui Kwan-kay, president of the Football Association of Hong Kong, China (HKFA), said Chan died on Saturday morning at her home in Tin Shui Wai. In a statement, her family praised her as “a strong woman who contributed to society and was well respected by others”, while the HKFA called her a “legendary figure” in local... https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3312637/veronica-chan-mother-asian-womens-football-dies-aged-102?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3312637/veronica-chan-mother-asian-womens-football-dies-aged-102?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Jun 2025 07:20:04 +0000 Despite a combined population of nearly 1.6 billion people and a deeply ingrained passion for football, there are no players from India or Thailand in England’s Premier League, but Manchester United are hoping that may soon change. The club and sponsor Apollo Tyres invited six young players from India, Nepal, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, from an original pool of 15,000, to Old Trafford last week to work on their skills with United coaches as part of the ‘United We Play’ initiative to... https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3290392/manchester-united-turn-their-attention-south-asia-bid-discover-new-talent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3290392/manchester-united-turn-their-attention-south-asia-bid-discover-new-talent?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Dec 2024 18:00:09 +0000 Gianni Infantino claimed the changes made since he replaced Sepp Blatter at the helm of football’s governing body have allowed Fifa to provide significant assistance to embattled member associations since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Addressing the Asian Football Confederation’s online congress, Infantino said the provision of US$1.5 billion for members via the Covid-19 Relief Plan was “unprecedented” and that such measures could not have been taken previously. “For me, and all Fifa... https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3113304/gianni-infantino-hails-strong-fifa-focus-shifts-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3113304/gianni-infantino-hails-strong-fifa-focus-shifts-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Dec 2020 03:22:04 +0000 United States soccer star Hope Solo told a Portuguese newspaper that former Ffia President Sepp Blatter sexually assaulted her at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony in 2013. In an interview published on Friday in the newspaper Expresso, two-time Olympic gold medallist Solo said Blatter grabbed her rear end shortly before the two appeared onstage at the annual soccer awards event. A representative for 36-year-old Solo confirmed the report was accurate and said the former goalkeeper for the US... https://www.scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/2119424/us-soccer-star-hope-solo-accuses-disgraced-former-fifa-president-sepp?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/2119424/us-soccer-star-hope-solo-accuses-disgraced-former-fifa-president-sepp?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Nov 2017 01:49:45 +0000 There is a special place where bald-faced ambition meets outsized ego. It is a barely humane entity littered with sub-species of Machiavellian deceit where crucial decisions are made daily that truly impact billions of people. It's called Washington, the capital of the free world, and in one of life's more delicious ironies it could also be the place that spells the end to the kleptocratic scourge behind the people who run international football and the unscrupulously cunning gnome that leads... https://www.scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/1859713/back-wall-only-matter-time-law-catches-sepp-blatter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/1859713/back-wall-only-matter-time-law-catches-sepp-blatter?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Sep 2015 12:15:30 +0000 Fifa’s 209 members are expected to elect president Sepp Blatter to a fifth term on Friday, based on statements in recent months issued by continental confederations, despite cracks appearing in his support bases. How does Blatter have such loyalty? Thanks to the vast increase in television rights fees during his 17 years heading the organisation, Blatter has redistributed billions back to national governing bodies and regional confederations. In addition to influxes of cash for their soccer... https://www.scmp.com/article/1812051/how-blatter-has-controlled-voting-blocs-and-209-members-until-now?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1812051/how-blatter-has-controlled-voting-blocs-and-209-members-until-now?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 May 2015 02:45:30 +0000 Sepp Blatter is arguably the most powerful man in world sports and certainly its greatest survivor. Now comes the biggest challenge of his 17-year rule of Fifa: dealing with the US and Swiss-led criminal investigations into corruption among soccer officials - including some who were sipping drinks with Blatter in the days before being arrested on Wednesday morning in Zurich. Despite the corruption scandals that have scarred Fifa for years, the Teflon-coated Blatter has successfully held onto the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1811995/can-teflon-coated-sepp-blatter-survive-fifa-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1811995/can-teflon-coated-sepp-blatter-survive-fifa-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 May 2015 21:45:45 +0000 Fifa president Sepp Blatter claims, incredibly, that charges of money laundering, fraud and racketeering conspiracies against nine of his officials and five sports agents show his efforts to eradicate corruption from world soccer's governing body are working. Never mind that they result from independent action by US and Swiss law enforcement authorities, after Blatter commissioned and then buried a report by an American lawyer on all allegations of corruption. More brazenly, Fifa officials were... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1811979/fifa-chief-sepp-blatter-must-go-set-example-other-major?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1811979/fifa-chief-sepp-blatter-must-go-set-example-other-major?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 May 2015 20:45:00 +0000 Fifa president Sepp Blatter last night broke his silence on the corruption crisis engulfing soccer, saying that accused officials had brought shame and humiliation on the sport’s global governing body. Hours after defying a face-to-face demand from his vice-president Michael Platini to resign, Blatter told the opening of Fifa’s annual congress in Zurich that he could not be blamed for the controversy as he could not “monitor” every official. “The next few months will not be easy for Fifa. I am... https://www.scmp.com/news/article/1812006/fifa-crisis-talks-hong-kong-revealed-financial-centre-heart-corruption-claims?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/article/1812006/fifa-crisis-talks-hong-kong-revealed-financial-centre-heart-corruption-claims?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 May 2015 15:15:30 +0000 Fifa president Sepp Blatter faced angry demands to resign after US indictments and arrests of top lieutenants engulfed the football supremo in crisis heading into an annual congress. As 79-year-old Blatter prepared to open the congress on Thursday in Switzerland, top sponsors who pour millions into world football – including Coca-Cola, Adidas, McDonald’s and Visa – pressed the global body to clean itself up. Visa Inc has told Fifa it could end its sponsorship if it does not act fast to restore... https://www.scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/1811167/sepp-blatter-must-go-calls-grow-beleaguered-fifa-president-end-his?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/1811167/sepp-blatter-must-go-calls-grow-beleaguered-fifa-president-end-his?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 May 2015 07:45:30 +0000