Soccer event management
According to Forbes, soccer is the most popular sport in the world. FIFA was consequently established in 1904 in Paris to manage international matches and tournaments in the world. Its original membership comprised of countries in the European region but the organization further expanded its activities to the rest of the world. In additional to its international operations, FIFA manages some regional and national tournament and leagues. FIFA further manages the world cup and other championships under the leadership of the organization’s president, congress, executive and standing committee.
Sepp Blatter
Sepp Blatter was born in 1936 in Switzerland. He graduated from Sion and St Maurice colleges before gaining a Bachelor’s degree in Business administration and Economics from the Faculty of Law at Lausanne University.
The 8th FIFA president
Sepp Bletter dedication to soccer sport, and his involvement and experience in various sporting activities make him a suitable candidate for the position of FIFA president.
Job Description
FIFA presidential elections are held every four years in the year following the world cup. The president conducts official functions on behalf of the organization and further offers legal representation to FIFA. The president attends meetings and press conferences and is responsible for the relationship between FIFA and other confederation organizations. In addition, the president ensures that the policies formulated by the congress and other governing bodies are regulated through the general secretariat.
Sepp Blatter career history
Sepp Bletter’s long and varied career involves post like head of public relations, General Secretary of the Swiss Hockey federation, director of sports, FIFA technical director and general secretary.
Mr. Blatter’s accomplishments
Due to his wealth of experience acquired while working in the organization for over 23 years, Joseph S Blatter has been able to successfully handle numerous challenges facing international soccer. Recently, football has become a major target for economically motivated group. Blatter is however determined to maintain the image of the sport by striking a balance between financial and sporting needs. The president has further promoted the use of advanced technology in the management of matches although this has taken place amidst a lot of reluctance. Bletter has also promoted women involvement in the otherwise male dominated sport by encouraging the recruitment of female coaches.
Sepp Blatter’s impact on international soccer
Sepp Blatter has played a significant role in enhancing the image of football sport across the world. Since his appointment in 1998, Blatter has embarked on numerous humanitarian initiatives such as’ Kick Polio out of Africa’ and ‘pure hope, pure hope’. In addition, he has overseen the formulation of strict regulations to govern international soccer which should be complied with by all the teams.
Sepp Blatter’s failures in international soccer management
Numerous concerns have been raised regarding Blatter’s presidency and administration in FIFA organization. His opposition claim that FIFA is currently flawed by general mismanagement, dysfunctions in the structures and financial irregularities. They accuse Blatter for the faulty administration and mismanagement of FIFA claiming that he runs the organization like a dictatorship with the support of a select group of people. Further, the president’s failure to endorse video evidence and replays in the football matches have put him under a lot of criticisms and have resulted in dissatisfaction in some of the matches.
The FIFA world cup event management
Due to the popularity of the FIFA world cup across the globe, the sporting event is attended and followed by a large number of people across the world. It’s a premier sporting event that is managed by the organization of FIFA. In order to effectively manage the event, FIFA has to embark on extensive sporting event management which in absence would result in failure.
Role of FIFA’s event management system
The FIFA authorities adopted an event management system that was compatible with FIFA’S objective of building a top of the class platform that would be online, on time, and uniformly distributed across events which in turn promoted the stakeholders’ experience
Benefits of FIFA’s event management system
Through the event management system proposed by Mahindra Satyam, a leading global information and technology services company, FIFA was able to deliver world-class services to its customers and other stakeholders in the 2010 FIFA world cup. For the first time, FIFA utilized the ticketing system by Mahindra Satyam to manage the participating member association ticket sales of 32 participating member countries
World Cup event management solutions
The FIFA 2010 event management system sought to establish a cost effective accreditation system which would handle over 250,000 during the world cup. The system had the capability of consolidating over 130000 volunteers and aimed at hosting an efficient ground and other forms of transportation. The system also facilitated in the sale of over three million tickets and the deployment of over a billion worth of assets during the 2010 FIFA World CUP.
Challenges faced during 2010 FIFA world cup event management
FIFA’s president and other FIFA authorities were faced with a major challenge of convincing the world that the event’s venue was suitable for hosting the major world event. In addition, most people were reluctant in embracing technologically advanced ticketing methods. The volunteers further lacked sufficient knowledge and experience to operate EMS.
Role of Sepp Blatter in FIFA world cup management
The president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter have sought to expand the scope of football in the world by extending the world cup to other continents such as India and Africa. He also regulates the export of talent to western countries by advocating for substantial compensation to teams exporting their players to the West. Sepp Blatter has also played an important role in protecting the image of FIFA through public clarifications and apologies regarding the outcome of some world cup matches. He had also stood strongly against corruption allegations and maintains that he is not going to resign
Recommendations
The organization should aim at developing a customized and easy to use event management system during their sporting events. In addition, they should provide extensive training to the volunteers on use of the system to further enhance its effectiveness. The president should also embrace the use of video evidence into the matches. Further, the organization should aim at achieving increased transparency in order to improve the organization’s image among the stakeholders.
Conclusion
Sports event management is essential in ensuring successful outcome of every sporting event (Masterman, 2004).
FIFA was established to regulate and manage international football.
Under the leadership of Sepp Blatter, the organization has been able to deliver successful world events and promote soccer worldwide.
Although the organization has been accused of harboring corruption and other malpractices, Sepp Blatter has worked bravely to ensure that worldwide perception of the sport is not damaged.
Reference List
Allison L, 2005. The global politics of sports: the role of global institutions in sport. UK: Routledge.
FIFA, 2011. Organization’s official website. Web.
Masterman G, 2004. Strategic sports event management: an international approach, UK: Butterworth- Heinemann.