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'Football is very macho, difficult to accept women in governance'

A day before the Women's U-20 World Cup kicked off in Canada, FIFA President Sepp Blatter reportedly said that it is difficult to accept women in FIFA's executive committee because Football is very macho.

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'Football is very macho, difficult to accept women in governance'

Blatter was speaking at a press conference in Toronto on Monday evening. He made the above statement on being asked about FIFA's plans to improve the gender ratio in the male-dominated governance committee, The Guardian reported.

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'Football is very macho, difficult to accept women in governance'

He conceded that the confederations, which elect the members of the executive, would never elect a lady and added that it is not easy for women to have a position inside FIFA.

However, he also added that he hoped that the situation would change one day when a woman is appointed the President of the governing body.

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'Football is very macho, difficult to accept women in governance'

Players in the men's soccer team deserve to get more recognition than their female counterparts in Sweden and people should stop whipping up a gender storm about it, striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic said.

"With all respect for what the ladies have done, and they've done it fantastically well, you can't compare men's and women's football. Give it up, it's not even funny," the Paris Saint Germain striker had said in an interview with the Expressen newspaper in 2013.

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'Football is very macho, difficult to accept women in governance'

"When I come out in Europe they compare me to (Lionel) Messi and (Cristiano) Ronaldo. When I come home they compare me to a female player.

"With all respect for the ladies, they should be rewarded in relation to what they generate (financially).

"I was asked (by Swedish media) in the summer who was the better player, me or (Sweden striker) Lotta Schelin.

"You're joking with me, right? When I've broken all these records, this goal record, the goals in the national team, who shall I compare it to?

"Shall I compare it to whoever has the record, or the ladies?"