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Just days after one of the biggest sports scandals in history, Sepp Blatter was re-elected as FIFA president. Blatter’s opponent, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, dropped out of the race after the first round of voting. At FIFA’s Congress meeting in Zurich, Blatter received 133 votes to Prince Ali’s 79, failing to reach the needed two-third majority needed. In the second round of voting, only a simple majority is required to win.
Prince Ali addressed the 209 members about his decision, “I just wanted to thank all of you. It’s been a wonderful journey in terms of knowing you, working with you, seeing the challenges you have. And I want to thank in particular all of those of you who were brave enough to support me. But having said that, I’ll be withdrawing from the race. So thank you all very much and I wish you the best of luck for the future.”
On Monday, fourteen people, including two current FIFA vice presidents, were indicted by US attorneys for crimes ranging from bribery to money-laundering. Some of the charges date back to the 1990s. Switzerland has joined in the fight as well, opening an investigation into the awarding of 2018’s World Cup to Russia and 2022’s World Cup to Qatar.
During his speech to the congress, Blatter talked about the current scandal saying, “Yesterday, the day before and today, I am being held accountable for the current storm. OK, so be it. I will shoulder that responsibility. Just as I said, I will take it upon myself. I will accept it and I want to fix FIFA together with you.”
In his acceptance speech, he continued by saying, “We will bring this boat back; we will bring it back to shore. We have some organisational problems. We need women in this committee, we have to do more.”
