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WORLD SPORT

Q & A with FIFA boss Sepp Blatter

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"Hope" and "emotions" are Sepp Blatter's favorite words. Both are associated with football, he says.

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Sepp Blatter

Sepp Blatter, president of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), answers questions from you.

Q. What inspires you?

Blatter: Faith in football and what football can move in our world.

Q. Where did you spend your last holiday?

Blatter: ...which holiday?

Q. What football team do you support?

Blatter: Still the one in my home village.

Q. Is it true you said women should wear tighter uniforms, and if so, do you regret saying that?

Blatter: It is not true. I have only said that women shall present football in their own feminine way.

Q. What's the one thing you would change to improve football?

Blatter: The attitude of spectators. I'd like them to observe fair play in all situations

Q. Should there be greater use of technology in football?

Blatter: Yes, but only on goal line technology and with immediate detection.

Q. What is your favorite word?

Blatter: "Hope" and "emotions" -- and both are characteristics of football

Q. Will you stand for a third term as FIFA president?

Blatter: I will tell the congress that I am at their disposal and I will go on. I have the will and if they have the will also, or if they are happy to go on with me, then I will be a candidate for next year. So this is a sort of direct information and transparency that the whole world they know that there is at least one candidate for next year's election. Otherwise, people will turn around as is the case now with UEFA, where they have to elect a president in January 2007, and there are a lot of speculations. Here, at least they will have one candidate and then the others if they are happy to come in then they will come in.

Q. Other than football, which sport do you follow most and why does it interest you?

Blatter: Tennis, because I'm an enthusiastic tennis player myself.

Q. Do you go down into the changing rooms before international games?

Blatter: Yes, but an international game is decisive. I just open the door and say hello but not go in because the players they have to concentrate and they don't like some external distractions. So I open the door and if the coach is welcoming they say, "Here's the FIFA president," and the players say, "Oh, hello, hello." Listening in the stadium, when the players are in the concrete tunnel and I can smell the muscle oil -- that's important to me.

Q. It was once reported that you are romantic but that your first love is football. How do those two things fit together?

Blatter: One can match it very well because football is a romantic thing if you take only the game but I am a romantic because I love my life and especially I love people. In football, it's really the game where people make contact --on the field of play, off the field of play. And it is the game that can bring together the people.

Q. Which sports person do you most admire?

Blatter: Argentine-born former footballer Alfredo di Stefano

Q. Who do you think will win the World Cup?

Blatter: ...and the winner is: football.

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