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FEBRUARY 2006

Joseph Blatter - 70th Birthday Tribute

Football has been a passion for me since my boyhood. It was a different game then from the modern version - less scientific, higher scores and where I grew up, played by amateurs, not professionals. But it had the same capacity to inspire passion because of the geometry of the patterns, the unpredictability of the interactions of eleven men on each side, and its capacity to bring about a unique - sometimes excessive - identification of fans with their teams.

Since then, I have attended football games all over the world and became especially interested in promoting football in the United States through American participation in international football - particularly the World Cup.

It is in this capacity that I met Joseph Blatter. In the late 1980s, America began preparing for the right to stage the World Cup and I served on the Organizing Committee. In that role, I made the acquaintance of Joseph Blatter, calling on him at FIFA headquarters in Zürich. He was extremely helpful in explaining to me the necessities of the international tournament and of the many details his experiences could facilitate. Then and thereafter, I was very impressed by his knowledge, the scope of his acquaintances, and his commitment to the game.

We met frequently at World Cups in Italy, America, and France and at the meetings of the International Olympic Committee. I was a member of the Reform Commission, which evolved over a hundred proposals later adopted by the Olympic Committee and in which Blatter was an active participant. In 2002, Joseph was invited to join the International Olympic Committee as a regular member. I had many occasions to exchange ideas with him at these meetings and to learn from him personally about his plans and visions for football.

Joseph Blatter has made a major contribution to relate football to the new technology and to the globalized world. He deserves much credit for bringing Africa into the international game and for the location of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

These achievements merge in my mind with the many acts of personal friendship Joseph Blatter has shown to me.

So I join his many friends in wishing Joseph Blatter a happy birthday and much joy and satisfaction in the full life ahead of him.

Henry A. Kissinger

[for "Joseph S. Blatter - Valaisan. Swiss. Man of the World"
compiled by Infront Sports & Media]

(LC)

Page 1 of 1

Maggie Halley

SACHA WIGDOROVITS / Contact Media

From: Sacha Wigdorovits [sacha.wigdorovits@contractmedia.ch]

Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2006 1:59 PM

To: mhalley@kmaglobal.com

Cc: Rico Brazerol

Subject: 70th Birthday Joseph S. Blatter, President Fédération Internationale de Football Association FIFA

FEB 2 1 2006

Dear Dr. Kissinger:

On 10 March 2006 Joseph S. Blatter, President of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association FIFA will celebrate his 70th birthday.

On this occasion Infront Sports & Media, FIFA's partner for the television marketing and production of the Soccer World Cup Germany 2006, wants to present to Mr. Blatter a book about his life. It will be called *Joseph S. Blatter - Valaisan. Swiss. Mann of the World*. The content of the book shall be a panopticum of short articles that show Jospeh Blatter through the eyes of important personalities that met with him on one of the many crossroads of his life. Our agency Contract Media has been given the task to produce this book.

This is why we kindly ask you, if you would be willing to write a short "homage" to Mr. Blatter from your very personal perspective. 2200 - 2500 characters would be an ideal length. **We would need your contribution by 28 of February 2006.** We are well aware that this is very soon but, unfortunately, the idea to create this book is only 24 hours old and we have to rush things up to finish it in time. We hope you will excuse our short deadline and help us to make Mr. Blatter's birthday book an unforgettable memory to him. I am sure he would be greatly touched by your contribution to his birthday book (which so far is still a surprise he does not know anything about). Amongst the other authors we are currently contacting and / or have already agreed to write a short article are Kofi Anan, Jacques Chirac, Nelson Mandela, Gerhard Schröder, Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini and all members of the FIFA Executive Committee.

Please, let me know if you have any further questions about the project. Otherwise I would appreciate a short reply if you are willing to be part of it.

Sincerely yours

Sacha Wigdorovits, CEO
Contract Media AG
Seefeldstrasse 281
CH-8008 Zürich
Switzerland
Office +41 (0)44 209 60 00
Mobile +41 (0)79 404 17 05
Fax +41 (0)44 209 60 10
Web www contractmedia.ch

2/21/2006