Blatter unhappy with England stance

FIFA president Sepp Blatter took aim at the England team as he revealed his disdain for players who threaten to boycott international fixtures.

Speaking at FIFA’s extraordinary congress being staged in Doha on Sunday, Blatter, referring to what the world governing body described as ‘a recent event in England’, said: “Players have no right to threaten their association with boycotting a game simply because they are unhappy with a certain decision.”

That was the stance which England’s players were taking in the days prior to their Euro 2004 qualification match against Turkey, on the basis that they disagreed with the Football Association’s decision to name Rio Ferdinand as a player who failed to attend a planned drugs test. They eventually agreed to play the game and managed a goalless draw to secure qualification to Euro 2004.

According to a FIFA statement, Blatter ‘reiterated that every doping case was one case too many and he appealed to the entire football community to keep the game free of this scourge’.

Ferdinand is not being accused of taking drugs, but the FA took a dim view of his failure to take a test on demand, and he could be punished with a ban or fine following his lapse of memory.

Also at the meeting, Blatter was given the go-ahead to remain in his post until 2007, meaning an extension of one year on his contract which was due to expire in 2006.

The FIFA chief also stated his opposition to demands from the G-14 group of European clubs who have requested that their players be paid by organising bodies of world and continental tournaments while competing in such events as the World Cup or European Championships.

“FIFA invites the national associations to participate in its events and the associations receive prize money for their endeavours. FIFA will never make direct payments to individual clubs or players,” said Blatter.

“It is up to the associations to deal with these matters when distributing the income they receive from these events.”