China to Open £17M Museum Hailing Disgraced FIFA President Sepp Blatter

They say timing is everything.

The operators of a £17 million football museum in China's Shandong province might be ruing that adage given the way disgraced FIFA President Sepp Blatter is presented at the venue.

The National Football Museum in Linzi "champions the Swiss as a hero of football," reports Neil Connor of the Telegraph.

Central to the 11,700-square-metre facility is Blatter's claim in 2000 that "football originated in China."

The 79-year-old Blatter and UEFA boss Michel Platini were earlier this week banned from football-related activity for eight years, effectively ending Blatter's career in football.

"Blatter's fondness for China was, as we know, expeditious," Football's Dark Side author Ellis Cashmere told Connor. "He saw it as the largest and fastest growing economy—football's final frontier, so to speak."

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

Images, quotes and even a statue of Blatter are all over the museum, which is due to open next month.

Museum director Ma Guoqing told the Telegraph: "The museum's function is to display history and culture—it is not related to politics. We only pay attention to Blatter's contribution with the development of football."

[Telegraph]