Blatter wins fifth FIFA term as challenger concedes!

Sepp Blatter was re-elected president of FIFA for a fifth term on Friday after his only challenger conceded defeat in an election overshadowed by allegations of rampant corruption in world soccer.

Blatter won 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 soccer's governing body into the worst crisis in its 111-year history.

Yet his mandate, which was far from convincing, raises fresh questions over his leadership with the possibility of civil war in international football, unhappy sponsors demanding reform and prosecutors looking to widen their investigations.

Neither Blatter nor Jordanian opponent Prince Ali bin Al Hussein received the necessary two thirds of votes in the first round, with Blatter securing 133 votes against 73 for Prince Ali. However, Prince Ali swiftly conceded.

"I congratulate you if you voted for Prince Ali, he was a good candidate, but I am the president now, the president of everybody," the 79-year-old Blatter said in his victory speech, knowing he faces a barrage of criticism and countless problems.

UEFA, the powerful European confederation, has been staunchly opposed to another term for the Swiss official and UEFA president Michel Platini has even raised the possibility, albeit unlikely, of Europe boycotting the World Cup.

There has also been talk of UEFA breaking away from FIFA, which is also unlikely, but nothing can be ruled out.

Blatter's future could yet depend on the reaction of FIFA's major sponsors and stakeholders who have been deeply dismayed by the dawn arrests in Zurich on Wednesday of several FIFA officials and U.S. prosecutors announcing indictments of officials and companies.

A senior U.S. Internal Revenue Service official said on Friday he thought there would be further indictments, the New York Times reported.

"I'm fairly confident that we will have another round of indictments," Richard Weber, the chief of the IRS unit in charge of criminal investigations, was quoted as saying by the Times, but he would not identify the remaining targets of the investigation.

One top sponsor, Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser beer, said after Blatter's win that: “We expect the next FIFA presidency to resolve internal issues, install positive change and adhere to strong ethical standards and transparency."

FIFA, ruled over by Blatter since 1998 and long subject to suspicions of corruption and internal probes, has had a traumatic week with law enforcement stepping in with allegations of financial wrongdoing stretching back 24 years.

Blatter has batted away the controversy, relying on his network of friends to hold on to power at FIFA, (Fédération Internationale de Football Association).

Prince Ali, in his pitch for votes, had pledged an open, more democratic FIFA, saying: "We have heard in recent days, voices which described our FIFA as an avaricious body which feeds on the game that the world loves.

"There are no easy answers. And no blame that can be cast that will wash away the stain that marks us all," he said.

EMBRACE REFORM

Blatter told FIFA TV that he knows how to create a better image for the organization and promises to unveil surprising plans on the first working day of his new term.

"It was a very difficult Congress due to the circumstances of these events," Blatter said. "I would say also kind of tragic events, Wednesday and Thursday in Zurich and all with the media in the world, what they said about FIFA."

While Asian, African and Latin American states had been expected to rally around Blatter, Europe, which accounts for all but three of the countries that have ever made it to the final of the World Cup, had been keen for him to step aside.

European soccer chiefs said after the vote that FIFA had to embrace reform. "Change in my opinion is crucial if this organisation is to regain its credibility," said Platini.

In federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday, one of the people accused, the American head of a Brazilian sports marketing company, pleaded not guilty to bribery-related charges.

Aaron Davidson, 44, head of Traffic Group's U.S. unit in Miami, is accused by prosecutors of securing contracts worth more than $35 million for the unit he ran and of arranging bribes for Jeffrey Webb, a FIFA vice president. A judge granted Davidson bail but ordered him to be put under house arrest in Miami and to wear an electronic monitoring device.

The United States, which last hosted the World Cup in 1994, is interested in hosting the 2026 edition but has not yet formally applied. U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati said in a statement after Blatter's re-election that it would "continue to push for meaningful change within FIFA."