Numero uno is FIFA’s president Joseph Blatter, and they give a great quote from Sepp:

“FIFA is like the United Nations but it has more members and is more powerful”

Six of the top ten most powerful global figures have soccer ties including Becks clocking in at No. 5, Roman Abramovic at No. 6, and Cristiano at 7. Herbert Hanier the president of Adidas is No. 4 and Michel Platini UEFA president is 8. Click on this link for the slideshow and complete coverage from Business Week.

photo. getty images

I.Shouldve.Played.Soccer

The Croatian Football Federation has been fined a second time for Racial Crowd Abuse, just months after FIFA disciplined and fined them over fans action during the 2008 Euro Quarterfinal match with Turkey for the same.

With Emile Heskey being subjected to Monkey Chants after being booked during Englands 4 - 1 romp at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, FIFA slapped a whopping 14,920k Pound fine on the CFF.

While FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee has warned Croatia that another issue will lead to “more severe actions”, you have to wonder when is enough enough.  Wouldn’t a more suitable action be to force Croatia to play Qualifiers in an empty stadium or at a neutral ground rather than a small slap on the wrist for a second offense just months after their first?

A FIFA statement read: “The FIFA disciplinary committee has fined the Croatia Football Federation CHF 30,000 (£14,920) for the racist behavior of some of their supporters at the 10 September 2008 Croatia v England preliminary competition match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

“The Croatian Football Federation was found guilty of a violation of article 58, paragraph 2 of the FIFA disciplinary code, and received a warning regarding its future conduct according to article 13.

“Further infringements of article 58 would lead to more severe sanctions by the FIFA disciplinary committee.”

image via TheSun

One thing about Roy Keane is he always calls it like he sees it. No matter what, ya gotta respect that. So when Jack Warner publicly released a letter Keane had written him in regards to Dwight Yorke, Keano naturally had a go at old jack.

“The man’s a clown,” Keane said. “He sent me a letter and he was quite happy to give it to the media. I spoke to him on Wednesday and I told him what I thought about him and where I think he should go.

“He is writing these letters and it is always under the Fifa heading just to impress everybody. If he is vice president of Fifa, then God help us.

“People worry about the game and agents and directors of football and managers losing their jobs - we should be worried about people like him.”

I’m sure this is not the end of the Keane v Warner mud sling.  After the jump, check out classic footage of Roy Keane giving it to Patrick Viera.

[Telegraph]

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FIFA Rankings

USA Up Three Spots…

1 Spain
2 Italy
3 Germany
4 Netherlands
5 Croatia
6 Brazil
7 Argentina
8 Czech Republic
9 Portugal
10 Turkey
11 France
12 Russia
13 Romania
14 Cameroon
15 England
16 Scotland
17 Bulgaria
18 Greece
19 Israel
20 Ghana

24 Mexico (Up Eight Spots)

28 USA (Up Three Spots)

UPDATE -  Looks like both Werder Bremen and Schalke have both decided to let Diego and Rafinha stay in China.

WTF is going on?

As our DP brother Ives already hipped you to, the Court of Arbitration of Sport ruled that clubs (ie. Barcelona, Shalke04 and Werder Bremen are the main clubs in the mess as they’re about to start Champions League Qualifiers) may hold out and / or recall players under contract back from China and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

This ruling goes against everything FIFA supposedly wanted, with Sepp Blatter citing the regard for the Olympic spirit being the most important thing for clubs, coaches and management to remember.

According to CAS Secretary General Matthieu Reebut the ruling was made because the Olympics are not set on FIFA’s Match Calendar as the main reason the 3 person panel ruled in favor of clubs.

Looking back at the original statements from the clubs and from FIFA, ones got to wonder if FIFA knew this was the way the chips were going to fall all along as it sure seemed like the clubs were confidant of the final ruling all along and Blatter was reduced to using the word “Spirit”. And in the bigger scheme of things, will FIFA ever make a change to it’s calendar considering you know the starting dates of the Olympics will never change.

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FIFA has reiterated it’s stance Wednesday, demanding all players under the age of 23 (or 23 at the time of the Olympics) MUST be released from their club commitments.

“The single judge determined that the international match calendar is not of relevance in establishing whether clubs are obliged to release players,” FIFA said in its statement.

“In view of the longstanding and undisputed practice (since 1988, clubs have always accepted the release of Under-23 players for the competition), he deemed that recourse to customary law is justified.”

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With all the confusion surrounding the 2008 Olympics, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has released an official statement regarding club’s responsibilities to allow their under contract players that are under 23 years of age to join up with their respective National Teams.

Via FIFA.com

In its official statement, FIFA states that “the principle is that each team can field players until the age of 23. In addition, the teams that qualify for the final tournament have the right to include in their squad three players over the age of 23″. That said, the rights and obligations of the clubs with respect to these two categories are different. “

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DOUBLE UPDATE - Looks like Germany is out of contention if FIFA deems South Africa unable to host the 2010 World Cup after the DFB’s Theo Zwanziger admitted his country could not match the success of the 2006 World Cup.

UPDATE - Looks like our man Sepp is pretty worried about South Africa, especially when FIFA admits to speaking with THREE different Football Associations about the possibilities of hosting the 2010 World Cup on short notice.

“I have spoken to three possible, not only possible, but three associations and countries that would be able to stage the World Cup in one year’s time,” Blatter said in an interview broadcast on Thursday by Sky News. “They need one year (to prepare).”

This is not looking good for either FIFA or South Africa. Can you imagine what South Africa’s going to do if this World Cup is pulled from them after starting construction on four new stadiums throughout the country?

Will South Africa be ready to host the 2009 Confederations Cup, the warm up tournament for all South Africans venues set to host the 2010 World Cup?

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According  to SI, after winning Euro 2008 Spain jumps to the top spot on FIFA’s rankings.  Winning Euro 2008bumped them up three places to the top spot on the list. As for the United states, we are currently number 30 on the list. I know rankings and polls don’t necessarily mean a whole lot, but we need to strive for better. What do you guys think? Even though they are just rankings, how do you feel seeing the US ranked number 30?

There’s only a few type of players that have qualities that can provoke hatred and outright love from fans around the world and Edgar Davids falls into that category.

With an amazingly distinguished career that’s seen him at some of the biggest clubs in the world (think Ajax, AC Milan, Juventus and Barcelona) and alongside some of the brightest stars to ever wear the Oranje of Holland (which he did 74 times), Davids was and still is the type of player to make his teammates better each and every minute he’s around them.

Plus it doesn’t hurt when your Honours have this pedigree -

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