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If we had to guess, Sepp Blatter has been referred to as “godfather” many, many times in his career, but never in a good way. The President of FIFA has been associated with any and everything bad that goes on in soccer’s global governing body: bribery, corruption, and lack of accountability. If he has offered people deals that they can’t refuse, then their undeniable quality likely had little to do with being good.
His poor reputation has not been confined to the men’s side of things. FIFA was recently sued by a number of high profile female footballers for it’s failure to procure grass fields for the players to play on during this Summer’s Women’s World Cup in Canada. The law suit was eventually dropped as it became clear that FIFA, and hence Blatter, would not budge.
After such a blatant refusal to support women’s soccer on an issue that it so highly valued, it is more than a little shocking to hear Mr. Blatter’s words during a recent interview with BBC World Service radio. In the interview, Blatter refers to himself as a “godfather” of the women’s game.
"I consider myself a little bit as a godfather of the organization of women's football in FIFA.”
According to ESPN, Blatter was FIFA’s top administrator in 1988 when FIFA “started focusing on women's football.” The first Women’s World Cup was held in 1991.
In the interview, Blatter went on to comment on the state of the women’s game compared to the men’s.
"Women's football is still limping a little bit behind [men’s football].“
"Men's football should share with women's football to get new partners for women's football. It is not easy because the market is focused on men's football."
He also said that Canada 2015 is a chance for women’s football to sell itself to the world.
"Women's football must market itself. It's a product and the product must have quality. Now it's up to the ladies in this World Cup to show that it's a great event because the television coverage will be done exactly like the FIFA World Cup."
