"Matches played behind closed doors penalise football" (Joseph Blatter, FIFA)

"I regard (matches behind closed doors) as an extremely dubious instrument. They represent a disproportionately collective punishment. Furthermore, it involves excluding innocent fans of the opposing team. In the final analysis matches played behind closed doors penalise football. The punishment is unduly excessive," said Joseph Blatter, President of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), on 17/04/2014.

"Instead, it is the troublemakers who must be punished. And it is clear to me that the clubs are responsible for the hooligans. To my mind, sporting sanctions are the only effective punishment. It has to cause the clubs real hurt, otherwise nothing will change," said the president of the international body, in issue 26 of "FIFA Weekly".

"A football match without a crowd is like a concert without sound, carnival celebration without costumes or a sight-seeing tour on an underground train. It lacks something important," added Blatter.

• "The idiot who insults a player from the stands because of his color or his sexual orientation will not change. So the stand will be…