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
Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup bid as an opportunity to bridge the gap between the Arab World and the West. On 17 November 2010, Qatar hosted a friendly match between Brazil and Argentina. This was one of 47 international exhibition games held throughout the world on this day. President of FIFA Sepp Blatter endorsed the idea of having a World Cup in the Arab World, saying in April 2010: "The Arabic world deserves a World Cup. They have 22 countries and have not had any opportunity to organize the tournament". Blatter also praised Qatar's progress: "When I was first in Qatar there were 400,000 people here