29 May 2015 18:17:00
The Swiss will serve a fifth term as the head of
the game's world governing body - despite calls
for him to resign after Wednesday's corruption
scandal
Sepp Blatter has been re-elected as president of
Fifa after winning the vote against challenger
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan.
Blatter had missed out on the required two-thirds
majority in the first ballot - receiving 133 votes to
his rival's 73 - but Prince Ali then took to the
stage to withdraw before a second round could
begin.
Delegates at the 65th Fifa Congress in Zurich
opted for Blatter despite the widespread
controversy that engulfed the event this week.
Seven Fifa officials, including vice-president
Jeffrey Webb, were arrested at dawn by Swiss
authorities on request of the US Justice
Department on Wednesday and are facing
extradition to the United States on money
laundering, racketeering and wire fraud charges.
In all, 11 individuals were also banned from Fifa
activities for their alleged part in the corruption
scandals.
The Swiss Office of Attorney General also
announced its own investigation into the
awarding of the Russian and Qatari World Cups
against persons unknown on charges of "criminal
mismanagement and money laundering" with
Fifa's plush headquarters being raided in the
process.
IRS chief of criminal investigation Richard Weber
has described the events as "a World Cup of
fraud" and American investigations are set to
continue.
Despite the arrests and alleged bribery which has
taken place on his watch, Blatter had earlier
insisted that only a "tiny minority" of officials at
Fifa were corruptible and has re-iterated his belief
all week that he remained the man to lead Fifa
out of its current storm.
"You know me already, I don’t need to introduce
myself to you," Blatter told delegates before the
ballot. "You know who you’re dealing with. I also
know I can count on you. We need to recover our
good name. We will start tomorrow morning with
this goal in mind."
Uefa president Michel Platini tried in vain this
week to persuade Blatter to step aside as
president in order to usher in a new era at Fifa
and also confirmed Uefa's votes would largely go
to the challenger Prince Ali.
However, the Jordanian royal was unable to
garner the necessary votes to topple Blatter, who
can now settle in for four more years at Fifa HQ,
where he will serve as president until the age of
83.
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