Sepp Blatter Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born 10 March 1936) is a Swiss football administrator who was the eighth President of the FIFA (French: "Fédération Internationale de Football Association") from 1998 to 2015. He is currently serving a six-year ban from participating in FIFA activities. From a background in business, public relations, and sports administration, Blatter became general secretary of FIFA in 1981 and was then elected president at the 51st FIFA Congress on 8 June 1998, succeeding João Havelange, who had headed the organization since 1974. Blatter was reelected in 2002, 2007, 2011, and 2015. Like his predecessor Havelange, Blatter
2015 FIFA corruption case Zurich hotel where seven FIFA officials had been arrested in May 2015. Hours later, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed an additional 16 indictments for criminal schemes; as well, former CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb pleaded guilty to money laundering, wire fraud and racketeering. On 21 December, the FIFA Ethics Committee banned both Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini for eight years from all football-related activity organised by FIFA after being found guilty of a £1.3 million ($2 million) "disloyal payment" made to Platini in 2011. Blatter said he would appeal the verdict. On 9 January 2016, the FIFA Emergency Committee decided