Blatter hails 'united' and 'happy' FIFA family

Blatter hails 'united' and 'happy' FIFA family

Published May. 20, 2010 10:37 a.m. ET

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has described the global football family as ``united and obviously happy'' approaching its annual Congress.

In the Congress agenda published Thursday, Blatter said none of FIFA's 208 national federations had proposed changes to the governing body's statutes.

``The FIFA family is united and obviously happy,'' Blatter wrote. ``As you will note, no proposals were submitted by members by the deadline stipulated.''

FIFA's members meet for two days in Johannesburg before the June 11 World Cup kickoff - the last such gathering before Blatter is scheduled to stand for election to serve a fourth term, starting next year.

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Blatter said FIFA would use its strong financial position to give extra money to members and confederations. Each national federation is set to receive $200,000 (?162,000) on top of its annual grant, with $2.5 million (?2 million) paid to each of the six continental bodies.

``It is a gift,'' Blatter said, when FIFA's financial report for 2009 was published last March. ``$56 million that we give back to shareholders, if we can say this.''

FIFA is funding the payments after making a profit of $196 million (?159 million) last year, earned mostly from World Cup television and marketing deals that exceeded expectations.

Its equity reserve was $1.061 billion (?860million), topping 10 figures for the first time.

At the congress, FIFA will make its own proposals to update its rules, including strengthening its legal rights to impose an interim committee which can manage a national federation during a dispute between football officials and government.

The move fulfills a request by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to give the interim panels - known as ``normalization committees'' - official recognition in the statutes.

Currently, the federations in El Salvador, Grenada, Kuwait, Samoa, Syria and Togo are managed by interim committees.

El Salvador and Brunei Darussalam are currently suspended by FIFA from taking part in world football.

The congress is scheduled to vote on expelling Brunei because of political interference in footballing affairs there.

FIFA has previously expelled only one member - South Africa in 1976 during the apartheid era.

The 2011 congress is scheduled in Zurich, FIFA's home city.

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