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
2018 FIFA World Cup ongoing conflict in Ukraine has also caused calls for the tournament to be moved, particularly following the annexation of Crimea. In 2014, FIFA President Sepp Blatter stated that "the World Cup has been given and voted to Russia and we are going forward with our work". Allegations of corruption in the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups caused threats from England's FA to boycott the tournament. FIFA appointed Michael J. Garcia, a US attorney, to investigate and produce a report on the corruption allegations. Although the report was never published, FIFA released a 42-page summary of its