Yahoo – AFP,
September 8, 2014
Blatter stakes claim for new FIFA term (AFP) |
Manchester
(United Kingdom) (AFP) - FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Monday that he will
be a candidate for a fifth term in charge of world football in an election next
year.
"Yes I
will be ready. I will be a candidate," Blatter said in a video speech to a
football conference in Manchester.
Blatter has
been FIFA's leader since 1998, but has faced growing criticism from European
football chiefs in recent months.
The World
Cup, a multi-billion dollar earner for FIFA, is also embroiled in controversy
over the way the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were decided.
His path to
a virtually automatic reelection was opened up after UEFA leader Michel Platini
announced in August that he would not challenge Blatter.
The
78-year-old Swiss official said he would officially tell FIFA's executive
committee at a meeting on September 23-24.
"I
will inform the executive committee. It's a question of respect also to say
then to the football family: 'Yes I will be ready. I will be a candidate,"
Blatter told the Soccerex conference by video from Zurich.
Blatter
said after winning his fourth term in 2011 that it would be his last but made
it clear in recent months that he has changed his mind.
The
football boss said a majority of national associations had given him support at
the FIFA Congress in Sao Paulo in June. Despite tensions with UEFA leaders, he
gets widespread backing from Africa and other key regions.
"You
see a mission is never finished. And my mission is not finished," Blatter
said.
"Then
I got through the last Congress in Sao Paulo not only the impression but the
support of the majority, a huge majority of national associations asking
'Please go on, be our president also in future'."
The
election will be held at next FIFA congress in Zurich in May, 2015. So far the
only other candidate is Jerome Champagne a former FIFA deputy secretary general
from France.
Champagne
has said FIFA needs reform after widespread accusations of corruption, but has
acknowledged he has little chance of beating Blatter.
Blatter
blamed meetings in Zurich on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for his withdrawal
from attending the Manchester conference.
He told the
conference the tournament could not be held in the blistering heat of the Qatar
summer but added that no decision had yet been taken on when it will be held.
A
corruption investigation has called for action against "individuals"
over bids for the 2018 in Russia and the 2022 World Cup.
The ethics
panel led by former US federal prosecutor Michael Garcia, which handed in its
report on Friday, notably had been looking into the way Qatar won the 2022
World Cup.
The Gulf
state has faced corruption accusations but strongly denied any wrongdoing.
"The
report sets forth detailed factual findings; reaches conclusions concerning
further action with respect to certain individuals; identifies issues to be
referred to other FIFA committees; and makes recommendations for future bidding
processes," FIFA said of the document.
FIFA did
not give any indication as to the recommendations made or the individuals
named.
Blatter
told the conference any action over the report and whether it would be
published would be decided by FIFA committees and not him.
Britain's
Sunday Times newspaper has alleged that former Qatari football boss Mohamed Bin
Hammam paid more than $5 million (3.7m euros) to gain support for the emirate
ahead of the vote.
Qatar has
strongly denied the allegations.
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