Advertisement

Blatter re-elected FIFA president

FIFA President Sepp Blatter waves after his speech before the election process at the 65th FIFA Congress in Zurich, Switzerland, May 29, 2015. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich

By Mike Collett ZURICH (Reuters) - Sepp Blatter has been re-elected FIFA president for a fifth term after Jordan's Prince Ali bin Al Hussein conceded defeat at the annual Congress of world soccer's governing body on Friday. Voting was due to go to a second round after neither candidate got two thirds of the vote in the first round. Blatter secured 133 votes and Prince Ali got 73. However, the Jordanian challenger decided to withdraw from the election, leaving 79-year-old Swiss Blatter to celebrate securing another four years in office. There were cheers in the auditorium when FIFA senior vice-president Issa Hayatou announced Blatter had been re-elected. "You have in front of you the elected president of FIFA and please a round of applause," he said as the Swiss incumbent came back to the podium to give his acceptance speech. Blatter told delegates: "I thank you for accepting me. For the next four years I will take command of this ship called FIFA. We will bring it back to shore and finally football can be played, beach soccer can be played, everywhere. "But we must work on that. We have a lot of work to do in the future." Blatter's victory came despite demands that he quit in the face of a major bribery scandal, being investigated by U.S., Swiss and other law enforcement agencies, that plunged FIFA into the worst crisis in its 111-year history. (Writing by Ken Ferris; Editing by Tony Jimenez)