Michel Zen-Ruffinen (born 24 April 1959) is a Swiss
football administrator served as the
Secretary General
Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
of
FIFA, the international governing body of the sport from 1998 to 2002.
Zen-Ruffinen is a lawyer specializing in (
sports law
"Unprintworthy" redirects are redirect pages on Wikipedia that aid online navigation, but would have little or no value as pointers to target articles in a hard-copy book. The name of a redirect may be unprintworthy for a number of reasons, incl ...
), and has been a respected football
referee. His career at FIFA career began in 1986, and he was subsequently appointed head of its legal department by
Sepp Blatter, then general secretary of the Association. He was then appointed Blatter's deputy, and became president of FIFA. He has been nominated for the post of general secretary.
On 3 May 2002, at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Federation, Zen-Ruffinen presented a report which put forward serious accusations against President Blatter. Five of the seven
vice-presidents
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
demanded that Blatter resign, but the Committee preferred that he submit a written explanation on all eight charges made against him. Soon, due to significant disagreements with FIFA leadership, Zen-Ruffinen was forced to leave his position.
In 2007, he was appointed head of the Association of Football Agents (AFA).
In 2015, he expressed his intentions to run for the FIFA post of president, but in the end decided not to run.
Former secretary-general Michel Zen Ruffinen asked to stand for FIFA presidency
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References
External links
* ttp://www.japantimes.co.jp/tag/michel-zen-ruffinen/ Michel Zen-Ruffinen - The Japan Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zen-Ruffinen, Michel
1959 births
Living people
People from Visp (district)
FIFA officials
20th-century Swiss lawyers
Swiss football referees