FA chairman Greg Dyke vows battle against Blatter will continue despite Fifa vote

The world reacts after Blatter wins a fifth term as Fifa predient

Alexander Sehmer
Saturday 30 May 2015 05:38 EDT
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Sepp Blatter celebrates victory in the Fifa presidency vote
Sepp Blatter celebrates victory in the Fifa presidency vote (GETTY IMAGES)

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Greg Dyke, the Football Association chairman, has vowed to continue the fight to oust Sepp Blatter, the freshly re-appointed Fifa president, saying he would be "very suprised" if he is still in the role in two years time.

"This is not over by any means," Dyke said."To quote the attorney general this is the beginning of the process, not the end."

He said: "The idea Blatter could reform Fifa is suspect. I'd be very surprised if he was still in this job in two years time."

Blatter was re-elected to a four-year term as Fifa president on Friday, but more than a third of the world football body's 209 associations voter for his rival Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan.

Blatter won the first round by 133 votes to 73, but he failed to gain a two-thirds majority. Prince Ali then withdrew from the contest rather than force a second round.

Dyke described the result as a "bloody nose" for Blatter.

But the 79-year old Swiss bureaucrat appeared undaunted as he thanked those who had returned him to the presidency of football's governing body.

“I like you. I like my job. I like to be with you. I take the responsibility to bring back Fifa," Blatter told delegates at the Fifa congress in Zurich.

Blatter's election comes at the end of a week that saw seven Fifa officials arrested and 18 people connected to football indicted on corruption charges by the US justice department.

Luis Figo, the retired Portuguese footballer who withdrew his candidacy for Fifa president last week, was crticial of Blatter.

"This vote has only served to endorse the election of a man who can't remain in charge of world football," he said. "Mr Blatter ... being re-elected - that shows exactly how the organisation is sick. Today was another dark day in Zurich. Fifa has lost, but above everything, football has lost and everyone who truly cares about it has lost too."

He said of Blatter's presidency, "If he has a modicum of decency, he will resign in the next few days."

Blatter told assembled delegates in the current crisis in which Fifa has found itself would not have happened if countries other than Russia and Qatar had won the votes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

He appeared to make reference to the US and England, saying: "If two other countries had emerged from the envelope I think we may not have these problems."

Most of the media investigations into Fifa have come from Britain, while it is the US justice authorities whose actions led to the indictments of 18 people, including charges that a Fifa bank account was used to channel a $10 million (£6.5 million) World Cup voting bribe.

(Additional reporting by PA)

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