Encomium
Sepp Blatter, 79, was elected the fifth re-election as the President of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). He would be the president once again for four years. He has been FIFA’s President since 2002.
Born March 10, 1936 in Switzerland, Sepp Blatter won with 133 votes out of 209 voting members. The process was to go to a second round of voting, after he failed to get the 139 votes needed in the first round.
Blatter received 133 votes while a his contender, Prince Ali bin Hussein had 73. However, Prince Ali conceded victory before the second round of voting took place – when it became clear Blatter was leading.
In his speech, Blatter said, “I thank you, you have accepted me for the next four years. I will be in command of this boat of FIFA. We will bring it back off shore.”
The voting comes amidst several controversies trailing FIFA from an alleged widespread culture of bribery and kickbacks to serious corruption by FIFA officials.
