Blatter Re-Elected to 5th Term as FIFA President

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been reelected for a fifth term after his single opponent, Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, withdrew his candidacy from the second round of the voting on Friday.

Blatter, who has been at the helm of the world’s football ruling body since 1998, won 133 votes of FIFA’s 209 member states in the first round, while 140 votes were required to secure victory, Prince Ali got 73 votes in the first round.

“I take the responsibility to bring back FIFA,” Blatter said in his victory speech. ” At the end of this term I will give this FIFA to my successor in a very, very strong position. Let’s go FIFA!”

Blatter’s re-election was marred this year by arrests of FIFA officials earlier in the week.

An unprecedented corruption scandal flared up in FIFA on Wednesday morning as seven of the organization’s high-ranking officials were arrested in Switzerland on bribery, money laundering and corruption charges. The scandal involves two separate criminal proceedings.

Firstly, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York is conducting a criminal investigation into the awarding of media, marketing and sponsorship rights for soccer tournaments in the United States and Latin America. Secondly, the Swiss Office of the Attorney General is conducting a criminal investigation into the selection of Russia as the host country for the 2018 World Cup and Qatar as the host country for 2022.

The arrests of the seven FIFA top officials were made by the Swiss police at the request from the US authorities and they are now facing extradition to the United States.