Football supporters from across the continent unanimously adopted a resolution calling for FIFA President Sepp Blatters immediate resignation in the light of his involvement in the latest bribery scandal around FIFA Honorary President Havelange detailed in documents made public by the Swiss Supreme Court.
The motion was passed by the General Meeting of Football Supporters Europe (FSE) at its annual European Football Fans’ Congress which took place in Istanbul/Turkey from 13-15 July 2012. FSE is the independent democratic network of football supporters across Europe currently representing more than 3 million football supporters in 41 countries. The three day event in Istanbul was hosted by fans groups from rival clubs Fenerbahce, Besiktas and Galatasaray who worked together for the first time.
Around 500 people from 32 countries registered for the event to share experiences and discuss potential joint strategies / activities on topics such as ticketing, penalty scales, offensive behavior, Safe Standing and match-fixing.
On top of that, Turkish football supporters organized a first ever national network meeting with the vision to unite as football supporters beyond rivalries to speak up on shared interests and tackle existing problems evolving around violence and safety and security, away travel bans or black market ticket issues in Turkish football. The conclusions later were part of the basis of an unprecedented meeting between Turkish fans and the Turkish Football Federation.
The growing authority of the FSE fans’ congress was reflected in a greater than ever attendance by representatives of national and international institutions, such as FA representatives, UEFA, the European Commission, FIFPro and Transparency International, and investigative journalist and international match-fixing expert Declan Hill from Canada.
The selection of Istanbul as congress venue for the first time added extra relevance to the panel discussion on match-fixing, an increasingly hot topic in Turkish and international football, with calls from speakers for urgent preventative action harnessing the input of fans.
Furthermore, an emergency motion strongly condemning the decision by the German Football Association to ban pre-season friendlies involving Turkish clubs was wholeheartedly endorsed.
The following representatives were elected onto the FSE Executive Committee for the season to come: Kevin Miles (England), Martin Endemann (Germany), Riccardo Bertolin (Italy), Joanna Laska (Poland), Michal Riecanský (Slovakia), Linda Hadorn (Switzerland), Igor Gomonai (Ukraine). They are joined by the appointed members from the newly founded on-topic divison of FSE on anti-discrimination Goran Malic (Croatia), the director of the FSE Fans’ Embassy division Michael Gabriel (Germany) and FSE Coordinator and Chief Executive Daniela Wurbs (Germany).
Football Supporter Europe
P.O. Box 50 04 03
22704 Hamburg
Germany
WEB: www.fanseurope.org
TWITTER: @FansEurope
Contact:
Martin Endemann, martin@fanseurope.org , mobile: +491784351988
Kevin Miles, kevin.miles@fsf.org.uk , mobile: +447956388791
