Sepp Blatter has called for lifetime bans and criminal prosecutions for footballers guilty of dangerous tackling. In a broadside against the kind of challenge that left Eduardo da Silva, the Arsenal forward, with a fractured left fibula and dislocated ankle 13 days ago, the president of Fifa argued for a new regime of zero tolerance before the meeting of the International Board - the body that determines the laws of the game - in Gleneagles this weekend and pledged to give more power to referees.

“Dangerous tackling is one of the most important issues in football at the moment,” Blatter told The Times at Fifa's headquarters in Zurich. “Players who do this kind of thing intentionally should be banned from the game.”

Blatter was in no doubt where the impetus for such tackling comes from and put the blame squarely on managers. “The mechanism where this happens today is obvious,” he said. “The pressure on the coach or manager to win is such that he encourages his players to go for victory at any cost. There is no microphone in the dressing-room, so he says, 'Go, go, go'. Until when? Until the point where the referee intervenes.”

The president of the world governing body was also scathing of officials, implying that they are complicit in the problem. “Some referees have in their mind, 'How long can I let the game go without giving a card?'” he said. “They think they are good referees if the game flows for 20 minutes without an interruption. But the referees must give yellow cards or red cards in the first three or four minutes if necessary and we will call for them to do so. Then the referee will have peace on the pitch. At the moment it is just not working.

“Before, the problem was tackling from behind, but now the players are doing it from the front and from the side. This is a matter we will discuss this weekend. We will not only make recommendations to the referees, we will instruct them to be stronger against this violence.”

Blatter believes not only that offenders should be punished by football's rulemakers, but also that the full force of criminal law should be brought to bear. “Attacking somebody is criminal, whether it happens on a football pitch or elsewhere,” he said. “It is a crime and should be treated as such.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Blatter - who sparked outrage among women players in 2004 by suggesting that they should “wear tighter shorts” - risked causing further offence by suggesting that “homosexuality is more popular in the women's game” [than in the men's equivalent]. But it was his argument that skilled players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, the Manchester United winger, deserve extra protection that appealed.

“The referees should be aware that if there is a very good player, they need to protect him,” Blatter said. “And then they must pay attention to the defender who wants to kick him out of the game and tell the defender that he is being watched. That is the psychology the referees must use.

“We have now in our referees' committee a former Swiss international. He is analysing the game and assisting the referees - he was at some of the matches in the African Cup of Nations. He has many examples where this kind of problem arises. In one match a player scored three goals in the first half. In the second half the defender almost killed him. Why? Because the coach must have said, 'Don't let him score another goal.'”

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