Blatter: I was misunderstood over racism comments

Nov 19, 2011, 12:36 GMT

Berlin - FIFA president Joseph Blatter has said in an interview published Saturday he was 'completely misunderstood' over his much-criticized comments about racism in football.

'I have been passionately campaigning against racism and any kind of discrimination for years,' he told the Swiss daily Aargauer Zeitung in an interview also published on fifa.com.

The 75-year-old head of football's ruling body was widely criticized this week when he said that incidents of racial discrimination between players on the pitch should be settled with a handshake at the end of the match.

England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand was one player to criticize Blatter over his remarks.

Blatter's latest interview follows similar remarks to the BBC Friday in which he said he was sorry for all the people affected by his comments and that he remained committed to kicking racism out of football.

'FIFA is strongly committed in this regard,' Blatter told the Aargauer Zeitung.

'We have launched several anti-racism campaigns, 'Say No To Racism', etc. I answered Rio Ferdinand on Twitter and made my position clear and unambiguous.

'In any case, I apologize to everyone who was offended by my comments and I remain fully committed to fighting against these evils.'

On whether the criticism was hurting, Blatter said: 'At the beginning it did. By now I have developed a thick skin and have more experience.

'I am happy to receive healthy criticism. But it's annoying when people constantly rake up old untruths. Above all, it's not me who suffers from the criticism, but my family.'

In his last term of office until 2015, he said he was 'mandated by the FIFA Congress to enhance FIFA's rather tarnished image.'

He added: 'It is also a priority for me to challenge the claims that I received any money. That is totally and utterly false and has already been disproved in court.'

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