DUSHANBE, January 23, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- On Sunday January 22, the eldest son of President Emomali Rahmon, Rustam Emomali, who was named in early January as head of Tajikistan’s Football Federation (TFF), met with Mr. Sepp Blatter, president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), in St. Petersburg, Russia to discuss cooperation issues, the website of the Dushanbe soccer team Istiqlol reports.

Mr. Blatter reportedly congratulated Rustam Emomali on his appointment as TFF president.  In the course of the talks, the sides discussed a number of issues being of mutual interest.

Rustam Emomali, in particular, noted that TFF fully supported policy conducted by Mr. Batter and his initiative and measures aimed at promoting development of soccer throughout the world.        

Mr. Blatter, for his part, promised comprehensive assistance to Tajikistan’s Football Federation and to begin construction of a synthetic pitch at Dushanbe’s Central Stadium under the Goal-2 program in the spring.

Thierry Regenass, Fifa''s Director for National Associations, Eva Paskie, FIFA Senior Manager for Development, Valery Tursunov, the First Vice-President of TFF, and Firdavs Fayzulloyev, TFF’s Secretary-General, also attended the meeting.

FIFA is the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer.  Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth successive term.  FIFA is responsible for the organization and governance of football''s major international tournaments, most notably the FIFA World Cup, held since 1930. Nineteen editions of the FIFA World Cup have been held as of 2011.  The next edition is to be held in Brazil in 2014.

FIFA has 208 member associations, three more than the International Olympic Committee and four fewer than the International Association of Athletics Federations: not all members are sovereign states.

The Tajik national soccer team is ranked 139th in the world by FIFA.  Tajikistan was eliminated in November from the qualifying tournament for the 2014 World Cup after losing 4-0 to Japan and 3-0 to Uzbekistan.