FIFA President Sepp Blatter prepared to stand for re-election
World governing body FIFA has had just two
presidents in 40 years and current incumbent Sepp Blatter has given his
strongest indication yet that he wants to extend that record further.
The Swiss has been in charge since 1998, when
Brazilian Joao Havelange ended his 24-year reign.
Prior to being elected unopposed for a fourth term
in 2011, Blatter -- who turns 78 next month -- said he would stand down in
2015.
Yet an interview with Swiss radio on Friday shows
that he has had a change of heart ahead of next year's elections.
"If I have the health -- and currently I am in
good health -- I don't see why I should stop the work," Blatter told the
public station RTS.
"FIFA needs consolidation. Many people say it
needs to be continued."
"I will not shout 'I'm a candidate' but if the
member associations ask me, I will not say no."
As with any potential candidate, Blatter -- who
started working for FIFA as a Technical Director in 1975 -- needs the support
of five national associations to be eligible to stand for election.
He has previously spoken of a desire to fulfill his
mission, as he looks to secure his legacy.
Widely criticized for controversial comments about
racism and FIFA's handling of the bidding process to stage both the 2018 and
2022 World Cups, Blatter will point to having taken the tournament to Africa in
2010 and to the Middle East in eight years' time as among his greatest
successes.
So far, only Blatter's former aide Jerome Champagne
has thrown his hat into the ring for the elections in June 2015.
The Frenchman, who served as FIFA's deputy Secretary
General between 2002 and 2005, announced his candidature in London last month.
At the time, he said he was not sure he could beat
Blatter should his former boss decide to run but Champagne refused to comment
when contacted by CNN on Friday.
UEFA president Michel Platini, a former France
international, has also been widely tipped to run for office but a man who
Blatter described in 2012 as "ready" to succeed him has yet to reveal
his hand.
FIFA followers speculated last October about whether
Blatter was set to stand again after he said that both Africa and Asia deserved
more representation at the 32-team World Cup.
"It cannot be that the European and South
American confederations lay claim to the majority of the berths at the World
Cup (18 or 19 teams), because taken together they account for significantly
fewer member associations (63) than Africa and Asia (100)," he wrote.
With each of FIFA's 209 member associations holding
one vote, such comments were construed by some as a bid to curry favor with two
sizable voting blocs.
They came in the same month as Jeffrey Webb, the
head of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association
Football (CONCACAF), ruled himself out of contention for football's most
important job.
Blatter, who will be 78 in March, was elected unopposed
for a fourth term in 2011 after his rival Mohamed Bin Hammam withdrew his
candidacy after being accused of attempting to buy votes -- a charge he was
later cleared of.
He is only the eighth president in the history of
FIFA, an organization that was founded in 1904.
Source: CNN) --
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