Blatter defiant after walkover victory in FIFA poll
FIFA President Sepp Blatter came out fighting yesterday as he began his fifth term in charge of soccer’s governing body, implying that the United States timed the announcement of a major corruption investigation to try to scupper his re-election bid.
The 79-year-old Swiss won Friday’s vote at a FIFA congress in Zurich, having secured the support of blocks of votes from Asia and Africa, which outweighed dissenters including Europe’s powerful soccer body UEFA.
He now faces the daunting task of restoring public faith in an organization tainted by allegations of graft.
In an interview on Friday, he showed few signs of wanting to unite one of the world’s most powerful sports bodies that takes in billions of dollars from marketing rights and sponsorships.
“No one is going to take it off me that it was a simple coincidence (that) this American attack (happened) two days before the elections,” Blatter told the RTS Swiss TV channel in an interview.
“Why didn’t they (police) do this in March when we had the meeting?”
In a dawn swoop on a Zurich hotel on Wednesday, Swiss police arrested seven officials, including FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb. The arrests were linked to a scandal being investigated by US, Swiss and other law enforcement agencies.
Blatter also singled out UEFA, whose president Michel Platini had called for his resignation.
“It is a hate not only by one person of UEFA but by the organization of UEFA that has not understood that I have been president since 1998. I forgive everyone but I don’t forget,” he said.
Blatter has not been implicated, but having ruled FIFA for nearly 20 years during which it has regularly been subject to suspicions of graft, his critics argued it was time for him to go.
His supporters welcomed the outcome of a vote that Blatter against a sole challenger, 39-year-old Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan.
“The AFC has always supported the FIFA president and we’re happy to work with him,” Asian football chief Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said.
Despite Blatter’s re-election, the scandal looks set to rumble on. Platini has even raised the possibility of Europe boycotting the World Cup.
England’s FA chief Greg Dyke said the row was unlikely to end with Friday’s vote, while his vice-chairman David Gill yesterday confirmed he will not take up his post on FIFA’s executive committee.
“It is not appropriate to be a member of the FIFA executive committee under the current leadership,” he said.
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