Joseph Blatter, president of the International Football Federation or FIFA, sees great hope in Philippine football.
He made it clear, however, that development should come from within.
“Help yourselves and heaven will help you,” said the admirable sportsman during yesterday’s press conference that kicked off the 100th year celebration of football in the Philippines.
Blatter is in the country, as part of the celebration, for the fourth time. And if his memory serves him well, the 71-year-old official said this is the first in the last 25 years.
“It’s an overdue visit. It’s a must for me. It gives me a lot of memories,” he said as he sat beside Asian Football Federation chief Mohammed Bin Hamman and Philippine Football Federation head Jose Martinez.
While on his short visit, Blatter will sit down with local football officials, and find ways, map out programs that could help revive the sport that used to be so big in the country.
“We will have an inventory of where we are now. Then we can set objectives in refereeing, administration, communication and marketing, the health of players. We need clear objectives, realistic ones.
“If you say that in 2010 you will qualify for the World Cup then I would say that’s not realistic. Developing football is not enough. You have to bring back the good old days of football,” he said.
Help from FIFA comes in the form of a $1 million financial assistance given to every national association every four years. And as part of a new tact, 10 percent of which must go to women’s football.
“We (FIFA) are only waiting for initiatives to come out of the associations. The initiative should come from the PFF. You have talented footballers. Team sport always brings people together,” he said.