Sepp Blatter has been re-elected as the President of FIFA for a fifth term in a row despite the election being overshadowed by corruption and arrests to several important figures inside the football governing body.
The 79-year-old was only seven votes shy of being over the 66% region in the first round of votes as Blatter won 133 votes, whilst his opponent, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, won 73 of the votes. However Prince Ali withdrew after the first round of voting, meaning that Blatter will once again take charge as the president of FIFA. After withdrawing,
Prince Ali said: "I just wanted to thank all of you. It's been a wonderful journey. I want to especially thank all of you who were brave enough to vote for me."
Blatter said in his coronation speech: “I take the responsibility to bring back FIFA. I’m convinced we can do it. I am a faithful man and I said, God, Allah, whoever is this spirit in this world, we believe, they will help us to bring back this FIFA where we shall be. “I promise you at the end of my term I will give this FIFA to my successor in a very strong term. A robust FIFA and a good FIFA. We have to work together. The age is no problem. “I thank you for the trust and confidence. Together we go. Let’s go FIFA, let’s go FIFA.”
Just days before the FIFA election the FBI arrested several high-ranking members of FIFA due to corruption allegations and many members inside and outside of FIFA, such as Michel Platini, asked Blatter to resign as the president of FIFA, and as you would expect, Blatter said no.
What happens next is still a mystery. The FBI are yet to question Sepp Blatter, and if found guilty Blatter could be out of the job already. However if Blatter remains as FIFA president UEFA have threated to boycott the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar as Platini stated: “Enough is enough. Too much is too much. In terms of our image it’s not good at all. I am the first one to be disgusted by this. I am saying this with sadness, with tears in my eyes. There have been too many scandals that have shaken the world of football.” “We should ensure the World Cup goes on. We had a great World Cup last summer and we need to move on so let’s see what other avenues are open. Why should the fans and the players suffer because of maladministration – I don’t think they should.”