Ex-fifa boss raises the alarm
“We lost football to Saudi Arabia”
12.07.2025 – 2:52 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The presence of Saudi Arabia is growing in world football. Sepp Blatter doesn’t like that. He looks at this development with a critical eye.
Ex-FIFA President Sepp Blatter has expressed significant words about the current direction of the World Corporate Association under Gianni Infantino. In an interview with RTL/NTV, the 88-year-old warned of the increasing influence of Saudi Arabia-and spoke of questionable development in world football.
“We lost football to Saudi Arabia. We offered it and they took it,” said Blatter. He sees the role of his ex-worker particularly critically: “Surprisingly, there is no opposition to it within FIFA.”
Saudi Arabia was the only applicant to award the 2034 World Cup in December last year. In addition, the PIF state fund is significantly involved in the financing of the new club World Cup. The tournament with 32 participants ends on Sunday with the final between Paris Saint-Germain and FC Chelsea.
Blatter, who led FIFA from 1998 to 2016, was concerned about the increasing stress for the players. “There is too much football,” he said. Again and again the same players and clubs are affected, without sufficient relaxation breaks. Games in high heat, like the last in the USA, he described as “unhealthy and cheeky”.
The Swiss also criticized the leadership style of successor Gianni Infantino. According to Blatter, there is hardly any discussion in the FIFA congress today. “Everything runs electronically and nobody says something. You can even come to a congress six hours late,” he said. Blatter started a scene in May when Infantino opened a FIFA meeting in Paraguay much late after a visit to Donald Trump.