Blatter set to stand for third term as FIFA president

SEPP Blatter is set to stand as president of FIFA until 2011 and will make suggestions to change the rules about offside at an International Board meeting next month.

“Let’s first complete the 2006 World Cup. And then, if I’m still in good health, I will still feel like continuing my work at FIFA because I was seriously hampered in my first term,” he said. Blatter, 69, had insisted he would only remain for two four-year terms, but has changed his mind.

In the meantime, he will plead for changes in the game’s laws, including the offside rule.

“You must make the offside rule simpler,” he said.

“There should not be passive offsides anymore. If the player who gets the ball is not in an offside position, nobody is offside.

“Which means a player without the ball cannot be ruled offside. Purists will scream, but it’s a simpler rule.”