Blatter postpones Sri Lanka visit

FIFA president Joseph Sepp Blatter has postponed his scheduled visit to Sri Lanka by two months, Sri Lanka Football Federation president Ranjith Rodrigo told “Daily Mirror” yesterday.

“We received a message from FIFA headquarters last week that the President had postponed his visit,” Rodrigo said.

Blatter’s decision to postpone his visit came just days after his office in Zurich requested for a security guarantee from the Football Federation of Sri Lanka if he is to attend the commissioning of the reconstructed Jaffna Football training center and the foundation laying ceremony of the syntactic football facility at the Henri Pedris Park in Havelock Town in early September.

However, it was not clear whether the postponement has a direct connection to the recent development of Rodrigo lodging a police complaint over alleged death threats he faced.

According to Rodrigo, Blatter who had made two previous visits to the island is due to arrive in November though no specific dates have been finalized yet.
“I will write to government authorities requesting state security when the dates are finalized,” he added.

Blatter, the head of the world’s most powerful sports body was a good friend of Sri Lanka before he turned foe after Sri Lanka backed an opponent who contested him at the last FIFA election. Sri Lanka currently adheres to a pro-Blatter policy which has so far been financially rewarding.

Blatter has been instrumental in providing financial assistance under various projects for development of infra-structure around the world including Sri Lanka.