Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 9y

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini called upon as witnesses by Theo Zwanziger

Former FIFA executive committee member Theo Zwanziger has called upon FIFA president Sepp Blatter, UEFA's Michel Platini and DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach as witnesses for his upcoming trial with Qatar.

Earlier this year, the Gulf State, as well as its FA, sued former German FA president Zwanziger for libel.

The 70-year-old has been critical of the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, and has repeatedly said that Qatar was "a cancer on world football," an opinion he first voiced in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in April 2013.

Zwanziger had still been a member of the FIFA executive at that time, and was only replaced by Niersbach in May.

The Gulf state described Zwanziger's words as "unacceptable" and sued him for libel, with the court date set for Feb. 2, 2016, just over three weeks before the date for the election of the new FIFA president in late February.

Freedom of speech, Qatar's statement in June said, "on no account" justified libel.

Zwanziger's lawyers have now handed in his statement of defence, and it has been leaked to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The paper reported that his lawyer Hans-Jorg Metz has made a motion for dismissal, and argued that Zwanziger never singled out one person or a group of individuals when saying "a cancer on world football."

In the motion for dismissal, Metz also cited Pope Francis, who had called consumerism "a cancer on society" in June.

Should the Dusseldorf court reject Metz's statement, Zwanziger has produced FIFA president Blatter, as well as his European rival Platini and Niersbach as witnesses.

Zwanziger's lawyer also claims that it had been the 70-year-old's job to denounce the shortcomings during the awarding process.

Qatar, the statement claims, "has turned into a synonym for a sector of entertainment, which wants to be sports but has not been for a long time, because megalomania and greed for money have trampled its social and ethics principles."

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