Related News
Johansson has a dig at Blatter
Source: Agencies |
September 18, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FORMER UEFA President Lennart Johansson believes goalline technology has no place in football, saying the game is for "humans and not for robots." The 80-year-old Swede, who held European football's top job for 17 years, also had strong words about FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
He said that the standard of play in matches between Europe's top club teams is higher than at the World Cup, but he was still surprised by the lack of quality on show at the recent World Cup in South Africa.
"It was nothing that you will remember," Johansson said. "The tempo, the technique and the scoring was not what I expected."
Johansson was still UEFA president when South Africa was awarded the continent's first World Cup. He said that he backed its bid early on after his fears about organization and security were allayed.
Blatter has praised South Africa's hosting of the tournament, but Johansson said Blatter wasn't always so supportive of taking the World Cup to Africa.
"The one who was against Africa at the time was Sepp Blatter. He was strongly against it," said Johansson, before adding that Blatter only changed his mind "because of this award he was given by the United Nations, not because he liked the idea to go to Africa."
Johansson said his successor as UEFA President, Michel Platini, had made the right decision by rejecting calls for the introduction of technology to determine whether the ball crossed the goalline.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
