Intro:

FIFA President Sepp Blatter called for unity and solidarity on Tuesday (24th March) at the 39th UEFA Ordinary Congress in Vienna while UEFA President Michel Platini warned against a rise in extremism in European football.

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (French) Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA:

"Unity and solidarity: this is the theme on which we insist today, yesterday and tomorrow. It means unity and solidarity everywhere, starting from the national associations, then within the confederations, and this unity and solidarity which exist at the roots of football will allow us to create unity and solidarity in the world of football as well, a world with an extraordinary emotional force."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Sepp Blatter, President of FIFA:

"I have to say how much football should be united, sport should be united when it comes to boycotts because a boycott has never given any results. That's why I'm very happy that the declarations that have been made by politicians in Europe, then the chairman of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach and the chairman of the Deutscher Fussball-Bund, who is present here today - no boycott. And we have to go there (Qatar). But we have to pay attention to political interferences because in our statutes, in the Olympic Charter and even in the resolution of the United Nations it is written that the autonomy of sport must be guaranteed."

SOUNDBITE (French) Michel Platini, UEFA president:

"I therefore renew my call for greater awareness of this issue among the public authorities, so that we can avoid reliving the dark days of a not-so-distant past - a past where hooligans and all manner of fanatics called the shots in certain European stadiums. In recent months, we have all been struck by certain images that I thought were a thing of the past. Some of us experienced that past at first hand. In my case, it was exactly 30 years ago … Nobody wants a repeat of such events. We need tougher stadium bans at European level and - I will say it again - the creation of a European sports police force. This is something I starting calling for back in 2007, just after I was first elected."