Markus Kattner (born 24 September 1970 in

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

) is a German-

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

business consultant and former

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

executive. He served as acting

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

from September 2015 to May 2016, but was dismissed without notice after being accused of paying himself bonuses worth millions of

US Dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

s during a previous stint as FIFA's director of Finance. Markus Kattner has begun legal proceedings against FIFA before the competent court in Zurich as he believes his dismissal to be unjustified. The Zurich High Court ruled in Markus Kattner's favour and decided in its ruling of 4 October 2022 that his dismissal without notice was unjustified. In his complaint, Kattner claimed that "the reasons for his dismissal were pretextual and inaccurate".

Biography

Markus Kattner grew up in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and for four years he played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

in the second division of the ''

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

''. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and completed a doctorate degree at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

(EPFL, 1999). Before joining FIFA, Kattner worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company in Switzerland along Philippe Blatter, a nephew of FIFA's president Joseph Blatter, and the pair worked together while advising the Federation. In 2003, he joined FIFA as director of Finance and in September 2015, when Jerome Valcke was sacked for financial irregularities, Kattner took over as acting secretary-general. Kattner himself was sacked in May 2016, after being accused of paying himself bonuses worth millions of

s over a six-year period (2008–2014). Markus Kattner has begun legal proceedings against FIFA before the competent court in Zurich as he believes his dismissal to be unfair, maintaining that the compensation payments were perfectly above board and did not break a single FIFA statute. In June 2020, he received a 10 years ban from football and was fined the amount of CHF 1,000,000 after an investigation into bonus payments.

Personal life

Kattner has German-Swiss dual nationality and is married with three daughters. He is a Bayern Munich supporter and also likes running, skiing and playing the piano.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kattner, Markus FIFA officials German men's basketball players 1970 births Technical University of Munich alumni École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne alumni McKinsey & Company people People from Bayreuth German football chairmen and investors Swiss football chairmen and investors Living people