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Friday, March 29, 2024

Blatter re-elected as FIFA boss after rival withdraws

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Sepp Blatter
Sepp Blatter

Sepp Blatter has been re-elected for a fifth term as FIFA president despite the crisis that has struck the world governing body this week.

Blatter saw off the challenge from Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan after a week which saw seven FIFA officials arrested and 18 people connected to football indicted on corruption charges by the US justice department.

Blatter won the first round by 133 votes to 73 and, after Prince Ali decided to withdraw ahead of the second round, the 79-year-old was installed as FIFA president for another four years.

The outcome of the first-round vote meant Prince Ali succeeded in preventing Blatter from winning a two-thirds majority, but the 39-year-old pulled out of the contest rather than force a second round of voting.

His supporters had been keen to get past the 70-vote mark as that would be seen to have delivered a bloody nose to Blatter.

The victory is also set to see further protests from UEFA – the first action has come from David Gill, the English Football Association vice-chairman who will reject the post of British vice-president as he does not want to serve under Blatter.

Gill will not attend the post-Congress executive committee meeting on Saturday where a decision is set to be taken on the allocation of World Cup places to each confederation.

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