SG: Thank you very much, Mr. President. Dear friends, let me say once again how happy my wife and I and my team are to be here at FIFA [Fédération Internationale de Football] headquarters, and Mr. Mayer, in Zurich, in your beautiful city.
As Mr. Blatter said, there has been very good cooperation between the UN and FIFA since we signed the agreement in 1997. And I want to thank you for immediately flying the UN flags in all your events and I look forward to seeing it again in Munich flying high beside the FIFA flag.
I think this sport has an incredible capacity as a catalyst for the kind of work we do whether it is fighting poverty, fighting HIV/AIDS, pushing reconciliation, bringing people together. I can't think of a single sport that has a capacity of bringing so many people together and getting them for 90 minutes to forget their worries. And it's not just the people in the field playing; all the spectators, whether they are in the stadium, or watching it on television, or by radio, are consumed by this. And I've seen societies that have been divided for that brief moment forget their divisions and they become one nation, one people sharing for their people and nation to do things.
And for the kind of work we do at the UN, leaving aside the economic and the social aspects that I have referred to, even in areas of political reconciliation we have seen situations where protagonists have been brought together to plat football, to play a game. When they have finished playing the game and they walk away discussing the game, how well it went, it often leads to other connections and other things.
So, this is the incredible capacity that sports bring. Of course, as Secretary-General I am always interested in sports, the work FIFA does, and the games you have around the world, but I am particularly gratified that the 2010 World Cup will be in southern Africa, and I think this a great opportunity to develop the sport on that continent. It's a continent that has also produced lots of good players, but good players who don't stay on the continent.
And I hope using this 2010 opportunity we will be able to develop infrastructures and encourage the governments and the people concerned to use sports in the broader context that I have referred to, and also develop a mechanism and the sports in a manner that the outstanding men and women players who will remain on the continent and lift the level of play and cooperation, generally. This is the kind of contribution you are able to make around the world. And I look forward, even if I'm no longer a Secretary-General, working with you in 2010 in whatever little way I can do to help support this African thing.
And I think most of you also know my special advisor for Sports, Development and Peace, Mr. Adolph Ogi, who is here with us and is pushing, not only the cooperation here between us and FIFA, but worldwide, at the national level, with governments, with civil society, with sports organizations. And so our partnership is alive and well. And I thank you.
Q: Mr. Secretary-General, are you planning to go to the World Cup in Germany, and [inaudible] to one of the matches, maybe of Ghana or Sweden?
SG: I would very much like to do that. I have been invited and I'm thinking very, very seriously about it. So, do not be surprised if you see me there.
Q: [in French]
SG: ….. on the other issue, we did discuss how we strengthen the cooperation between the UN and FIFA; the work that FIFA has been doing around the world and how we can intensify our cooperation. I think we both realize that sports is a great opportunity, not just for young people to exercise their body and mind, to have some discipline instilled in them, and, in fact, today I visited two sporting organizations –the Olympic Committee and FIFA –and I can tell you that everything has run like clockwork. Everything has been on time. Sports are about timing, it's about discipline. And I'm ashamed to say, you have been much more punctual than we diplomats are in New York. And we can learn something from you.
In a way we really see a great possibility to use sports, to foster development, to encourage peace, to encourage reconciliation, to give the message about the need to fight HIV/AIDS, to fight the stigma and discrimination that is attached to the disease. And, in fact, we also see prospects. We are working in many conflict areas from Congo to Afghanistan to Côte d'Ivoire. And here we see possibilities of using sports to bring the fighting groups together, to get them to the field, and get them to forget the war or their conflict for 90 minutes, or one hour and hope other great things will develop from there.
But, there was something Mr. Blatter said in our conversation, which was very important. That for one month during the World Cup, everybody is glued to television, they're reading newspapers, they're listening to radio, and for that brief moment, about a billion people around the world all doing the same thing, focused on sharing a moment of excitement, a moment of brilliance, a moment of an extraordinary, exhilarating game. And hopefully they're so focused on this that they don't have time to fight each other and they see the possibilities of working together, and coming together, and enjoying things together, rather than focusing on what divides them. Hopefully they will continue to focus on what unites them. Thank you.
Q: [in German]
SG: Yes, I did play football, I did play football as a child, and I played football at university. If you want to know the position I played, I played center forward or right wing. To show you how these experiences last, about eight years ago, I was invited to give a lecture at the Council on Foreign Relations. And at the end of the lecture there was a question and answer period. A very tall gentleman, bald, got up and said 'did you go to such and such a university', I said yes. He said, 'I went to Carlton. Did you play soccer?' I said yes. He said, 'I remember your shot, I was in the goal.' And this was about 35 years ago. And he had changed, I couldn't recognize him, but he said 'I was in the goal'. After the meeting, we went and talked together, he was a prominent newscaster in America. We all shared the experience going back 35 years or so ago. I think for young people, as I have indicated earlier, this is not only good for their body, but it also instills discipline in them; it instills respect for rules, and they know if you do not play according to the rules, you get a red card and you get kicked out and everybody knows you do not play by the rules. It instills discipline, and above all, how to work in a team. And this is a lesson that they will carry with them forever.
When it comes to women's soccer, we discussed it earlier, and I believe that…well, sorry, I lived in America too long, when it comes to women's football, rather than soccer, I think they have improved remarkably. And there are moments when, quite frankly, I enjoy watching their game much more than the men's football. No offence meant. They use technique; they don't try to force the issue, almost as you have said like dancers or ballerinas. But, they play very well, and the same goes in someway for tennis, where they don't try to use power, power serving, but, actually, give you a chance of seeing them exchange volleys and playing [inaudible]. So, women's soccer has come a long way, and I think it is exciting and I hope in time they will be paid as well as the men are paid. The men are overpaid, and they are underpaid. I hope there will be some equilibrium. Mr. President, I leave that with you.