Blatter re-elected FIFA president

Last Updated: Thu, 2 Jun 2011 03:31:00 +1000

Sepp Blatter has been re-elected unopposed as the head of football's world governing body FIFA for a new four-year term.

The 208-member FIFA congress voted on the presidency in Zurich overnight.

Blatter was the only candidate in the election, with his former rival Mohamed Bin Hammam suspended pending investigation over bribery allegations.

He says he is the man to steer the ship through troubled waters, and he has promised to overhaul World Cup voting, and FIFA's Ethics Committee.

"We will need some time we cannot do it from one day to the next," Blatter said.

The English football association had pushed to get the vote postponed, but was chastised for its rebellion.

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Sepp Blatter elected FIFA president

2 June 2011

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Sepp Blatter's re-election to FIFA's top job was uncontested yesterday after his only rival, Qatar's Mohamed bin Hammam, was suspended over bribery allegations. After having initially ignored the claims of widespread corruption in FIFA, the newly elected president finally admitted there were problems, and said he'd establish a committee to deal with them.

FIFA delegates did also make one important change to the way future World Cups would be allocated. From now on, all 208 Football Association delegates will vote for the winning country from a short-list drafted by the 24-member executive committee.

Matt Scott
Football columnist for the Guardian newspaper

Michel Panayotov, international editor

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FIFA president faces bribery probe

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Football's world governing body, FIFA is investigating its own president over bribery allegations. Sepp Blatter will face an ethics committee tomorrow, just days before FIFA holds its re-election for president.

Here's our Europe correspondent Rachael Brown.

RACHAEL BROWN: He's been the most powerful man in the world's most popular sport for the past 13 years. Sepp Blatter was hoping to be re-elected for a fourth term, but three days before next week's presidential election, he'll be grilled by FIFA's ethics committee.

It follows a request by his presidential rival, the Asian Football Confederation chief Mohamed bin Hammam. Mr Bin Hamman has been accused of offering cash bribes to Caribbean officials in exchange for their votes.

Mr Hamman denies the bribery accusation, and has raised the stakes, claiming the FIFA boss knew about the allegations, but failed to report them, thereby breaking the association's code of ethics.

The UK's sport and olympics minister, Hugh Robertson, says there's no way an election can go ahead in this climate.

HUGH ROBERTSON: I think it's fair to say that this election process is rapidly descending into a complete farce. So by far the best thing would be for FIFA to suspend the election until these allegations have been thoroughly, robustly and I hope independently investigated by the ethics committee

RACHAEL BROWN: Allegations of corruption have long swelled around world football, but the 2018 World Cup bidding process brought things to a head. Since then, Mr Blatter has mounted a robust defence of his association.

This is Mr Blatter speaking recently in South Africa.

SEPP BLATTER: I do not accept what somebody in this room that FIFA is a corrupt organisation. I do not accept that. FIFA is not a corrupt organisation. If there are some people they are under investigation in corruption and if there's no proven evidences, then it's not corrupt. So stop please to say FIFA's corrupt. FIFA is not corrupt!

RACHAEL BROWN: Mr Blatter is now the eighth current member of FIFA's 24-man ruling executive committee placed under investigation for alleged corruption. Many commentators say this is FIFA's watershed moment.

Hugh Robertson again.

HUGH ROBERTSON: The obvious parallel actually with all of this is the IOC who went through a not dissimilar process after Salt Lake City. There is currently a bid going on for 2018 Winter Olympics. I have not heard an iota of evidence from any of the bidding nations that this is anything other than an absolutely fair and transparent process.

So FIFA could follow the example of the IOC, clean themselves up and they will do that by making themselves much more transparent and much more accountable

RACHAEL BROWN: FIFA's ethics committee is obliged to investigate any complaint by an executive committee member.

But unlike Mr Bin Hamman, who reportedly has going against him, sworn affidavits and photographic evidence of money changing hands, when it comes to Sepp Blatter, it's just one man's word against another.

This is Rachael Brown in London, reporting for Saturday AM.

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