The Diary of the FIFA President: Everything will be fine

I am back at home. These were my thoughts when I opened the wonderful tournament that is currently taking place in Azerbaijan. The event with its 189 participating nations, which we have given the resounding name “Fifa U15 World Cup & Festival”, is currently enchanting everyone on the planet whose heart beats for football. After a few exciting weeks for me, it's finally time for the World Cup again. And wherever in the world there is a World Cup in football, I feel at home.

And so in these days in Azerbaijan, when Russian boys were able to put their homeland back on the map of international football with an 11-0 win against Sudan, I think back with a smile on my face to the wonderful summer of football in which we were able to give the world the best football tournament of all time. It was with great pleasure that I once again leafed through the World Cup diary that I wrote for the readers of the taz in those days.

I was also amazed at myself and was once again happy about how many games I was able to attend back then or how I called my friend Donald Trump on the phone to have a sports-related conversation about being sent off. It made me think again of all the hate I received from people who never loved football. I now know how to deal with all the sometimes uninhibited criticism that keeps coming at me. I take a personal hydration break and wash away the anger.

Because I think that grown men shouldn't keep their feelings a secret in the often harsh world of football, I've decided to fill my diary with more entries. I appreciate the fact that the taz gives me the opportunity to bring my thoughts to the public. Your readers and the whole world can know what's going on inside me. I would like to be completely open and express it in a few words: I'm fine.

Even in the days when the haters, as I called them, were particularly loud, I never lost confidence in myself. The fact that football lost a lot of money because I ended up canceling the sale of the rights to the big football tournaments that I had planned for the sake of world peace still hurts my soul. It was a big sacrifice and I know a number of officials who would rather give me the FIFA Peace Prize today rather than tomorrow.

How good that, despite everything, there was still enough money in FIFA's coffers. So I was able to promise all FIFA member associations a payment of $25 million. Far be it from me to demand anything in return. But if the reward for all that effort was my re-election next March, then I would accept it with all due humility. In the end, all that matters is that football continues to develop around the world.

That's what I've been taking care of for the past week. From Azerbaijan I took a detour to the wonderful country of Bhutan. I was able to present the king, a certain Jugme Khesar Namgel Wangchuk, with a FIFA jersey and in return I received a kind of bathrobe from the president of the local football association.

The photos that show me in this type of costume will definitely have a place of honor in the picture gallery on my smartphone. They represent the stories that really advance football. In comparison, how does football benefit from the already pointless search for an opponent for me? I think an answer is unnecessary.