Geoffrey Thompson (born 23 August 1945) is the former chairman of

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

, and a vice-president of both

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

and

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

. He has long been associated with

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

especially in

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. ...

, having previously been general manager of Doncaster Rovers and held senior positions in the Sheffield & Hallamshire Football Association. He was elected chairman of the FA in 1999, a post he held until January 2008. He is a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

. On 16 May 2010 he replaced Lord Triesman as the head of England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup, after Triesman stepped down due to allegations of him accusing fellow World Cup 2018 hopefuls Russia and Spain of using bribery in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

References

External links

Profile on FIFA.com
Living people Chairmen of the Football Association Sport in Sheffield 1945 births Officers of the Order of the British Empire {{England-footy-bio-stub