By Andrew Warshaw
April 19 – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has hired yet another top-ranked sports journalist to be a part of his re-election campaign team.
Walter de Gregorio’s Zurich-based public relations firm WDG is handling media inquiries for Blatter ahead of the June 1 poll against Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar.
A former sports editor of Switzerland’s best-selling tabloid Blick, De Gregorio (pictured left with Blatter) doubles up as a columnist for the political weekly Die Weltwoche.
Blatter gave De Gregorio his first official interview after the controversial 2018 and 2022 World Cup ballots in December.
Blatter said England behaved like “bad losers” after being defeated by Russia for 2018, a remark that made global headlines.
Blatter was himself a sports journalist before turning to football administration, something he frequently refers to when discussing his background.
He has now hired two communications experts from the same profession having recently taken on Brian Alexander, a former newspaper executive who moved on to the BBC and left after 14 years to be a consultant for a London-based public relations firm.
Whilst it is not clear exactly how the roles of Blatter’s growing communications team have been divided up, the next move seems certain to be the publication of his eagerly awaited election manifesto, officially detailing his ambitions for FIFA for the next four years.
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