Sepp Blatter him from taking part in any FIFA activities over the following eight years. On 24 February 2016, a FIFA appeals committee upheld the suspension but reduced it from eight years to six. Issa Hayatou served as the acting President of FIFA until an extraordinary FIFA Congress was held in late February, electing Gianni Infantino as the 9th president of FIFA. Blatter was born in Visp in the Swiss canton of Valais with the given name of "Josef". He studied in Saint Maurice, before getting a degree in business and economics from the University of Lausanne in 1959. Blatter has had
England 2006 FIFA World Cup bid decided to make their own bid, losing the support of UEFA president Lennart Johansson in the process. As a result, England put its support behind Sepp Blatter in 1998, rather than rival Johansson, for the FIFA presidency. Blatter had, however, already publicly supported South Africa's bid. The FA went on to make a series of misinformed decisions to the detriment of the bid. This including FA chief executive Graham Kelly and chairman Keith Wiseman unsuccessfully attempting to remove the Scottish Football Association's David Will from the FIFA executive and replace him with Wiseman, culminating in both Kelly and Wiseman being