Sepp Blatter re-elected FIFA President – RBC

TKO

Sepp Blatter re-elected FIFA president for a fifth term after the Jordanian Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, Blatter’s challenger in the election, conceded defeat, reports Reuters.

Under the rules of the FIFA presidential election organization are all members of the federation of national organizations, each with one vote. In the first round, the winner had to enlist the support of two thirds of the votes, ie 140 federations. Blatter received 133 votes, while his only rival – the Jordanian Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein – 73 votes.

In the second round the winner was determined by a simple majority, and Blatter would have received it if the achieved advantage in the first round, but Ali Al-Hussein asked for the floor and thanked the federation to vote for him for his support and expressed hope for a better future.

After the recognition of his victory Blatter took to the stage and thanked the national Federation for their support. “I will command the ship called FIFA. I love you. Yeah, I’m not perfect. But no one is perfect. Together we will win. Forward, FIFA! “- He said.

The head of football organization also promised to save the world championship of the planet and expressed his hope that God and Allah help FIFA. “At the end of his term, I will give my successor FIFA. The system will sound “- promised Blatter.

Trying European revolution

Voting for the President of FIFA in this was preceded by one of the largest scandals in the history of the organization. On May 27, Swiss police arrested seven officials of the organization of the US charges of corruption, bribery and money laundering. Subsequently, the US Justice Department said the charges relate to 14 people, nine of them – the officials of FIFA, five – CEOs, FIFA provides marketing services and broadcast the matches. US prosecutors suspect functionaries FIFA taking bribes worth more than $ 150 million.

The scale of the corruption scandal has prompted the European football confederation – League speak for the postponement of elections for up to six months. UEFA warned that Friday’s meeting could turn farce, and even discussed a boycott of it. Chief Executive Officer Michel Platini threatened that if he wins Blatter Europe may boycott the main football tournament of the planet – the World Cup.

However, this call is not responded to other UEFA continental federation FIFA: African CAF AFC Asian and openly declared that they are against the transfer of voting and decided to support the incumbent president. Not supported by Platini as Spain and Russia. Vladimir Putin expressed his support for Blatter and noted the political component of the Ministry of Justice in the actions of the United States.

Success Formula Blatter

While the federation member voted in the presidential elections of FIFA anonymously, of course, that provided the crucial support Blatter, as before, the country’s football-poor “third world”, receiving generous subsidies from FIFA for “the development of football».

In total, FIFA are 209 federations, and all votes have the same weight. That is the leader in football and in the German economy, where there are 6.3 million registered players (most in the world), and the British overseas territory of Montserrat, where 200 official players have an equal voice.

In order to win in the second round Blatter would have been enough to dial 105 votes. Such a number it would provide Africa, Asia and Oceania – the weakest regions in the football sense.

The most votes in the FIFA – in Africa. Blatter knows that to win he needs to win the support of Africans, noted before the vote, the newspaper The Guardian. African countries ascribe personal initiative Blatter construction in some of them (eg in Zambia) and technical training centers. Blatter is considered to occupy a special place in the sports history of the continent after “brought” the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

Loser bidder

The rival Blatter in the FIFA presidential election was one of three sons of the King of Jordan – 39-year-old Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein. In 2011 he became a member of the FIFA Executive Committee and one of the seven Vice-Presidents of the Organization.

The Prince received a solid Western education, first at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst (UK), and then at Princeton University in the United States. Immediately after the release in 1999, he led the Football Federation of Jordan. The Prince was never a professional footballer and not directed by any football club would.

Having put forward his candidacy for the presidency of FIFA in January this year, Al-Hussein said he wants “improve the management of the organization and make it more transparent and to restore public confidence in it.” In its election manifesto, he promised if he wins the increased annual sum allocated to each Member State to the FIFA football development, with $ 250 thousand. $ 1 million.

In a March interview with CNN Prince expressed his willingness to leave the executive committee of FIFA, Blatter re-elected if for a fifth term.