BASSETERRE, St Kitts – DESPITE allegations of corruption and mismanagement, the embattled Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter yesterday (June 1) won another four-year term as President of football’s world governing body, FIFA.
Blatter, who has been at the helm of FIFA for some 13 years, retained the position when he received 186 votes out of a possible 203 in an election conducted by secret ballot at FIFA’s Congress in Zurich, where he was the only candidate.
After retaining the presidency, Blatter said, “I am honored to accept the 61st FIFA Congress’s mandate to serve as president during 2011-2015 period. Together we can tackle the problems that football faces today and show that our game remains very solid and strong.”
The 75-year-old Swiss also told delegates at the Congress that “we have been hit and I personally have been slapped”, adding that he did not want that to happen again.
Blatter also said that he would ensure that future awarding of World Cup hosts would be decided in a vote of all 208 Federations instead of the body’s 24 executive committee members.
The four-time President declared that he would not make England pay for attempting to stop him from being re-elected unopposed, but expressed surprise at the Football Association.
“There's no bad feeling with the associations that didn't vote for me," he said.
“I’m the President of all the associations and will work with all of them, and with 186 votes I’m proud. Don’t worry about the English,” he added.
Member associations approved his proposal that the Congress would have the final vote to decide on the host of the FIFA World Cup and also the power to elect the members of the FIFA Ethics Committee.
Another proposal made by President Blatter, which was also approved by the Congress, is the creation of a cooperate governance and compliance committee composed of respected personalities from the football family, and possibly from other areas outside football, which would have the duty to investigate and suggest solutions to the problems they identify.
FIFA’s outgoing Vice-President Dr. Chung Mong-Joon was made honorary Vice-President of football’s world governing body, while outgoing Executive Committee Members Junji Ogura, Franz Beckenbauer and Geoff Thompson were each presented a distinction.
Next year’s FIFA Congress will take place in Budapest, Hungary on May 24-25.
