Charlie Dempsey

Charles John "Charlie" Dempsey, CBE ( born March 4, 1921 in Maryhill, Glasgow, † June 24, 2008 in Auckland ) was a New Zealand football functionary of Scottish descent.

Dempsey emigrated in 1952 to New Zealand. From 1964 he worked for the New Zealand Football Association in a leading position. In 1982, he became president of the Oceanic Football Association and in 1996 a member of the FIFA Executive Committee. Under his leadership, the national team of New Zealand in 1982 in Spain reached the final of a World Cup for the first time. In 1999, he took the final round of the U17 World Cup in New Zealand. 1982 Dempsey was appointed in New Zealand for his services to football Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 2004 he was awarded the Order of Merit of FIFA.

International Dempsey was known in 2000. A member of the FIFA Executive Committee, he abstained despite instructions from his association of voice that he actually for the South African applicants should submit. Dempsey, however, favored the German bid. He had felt put under pressure for different reasons; what Dempsey had actually persuaded to abstain from voting, remained controversial. In one of his few interviews afterwards he spoke of " pressure by influential European interest groups " as a key reason he stated: " The main decisive factor for my decision was that was whispered in the circle of my colleagues, I would take money from the Delegation of South Africa. I wanted to confront with the abstention. "Even a fax of the satirical magazine Titanic, in which Dempsey Black Forest ham and a cuckoo clock were in prospect, he should vote for Germany, could have influenced his decision (see How Titanic once the football took the 2006 World Cup to Germany ). After the election, he was harshly criticized mainly from Africa, South Africa's representative Irvin Khoza even referred to cheating. Shortly after the election Dempsey took two years before the expiry of the parliamentary term. In 2008, he died after a short illness.