Sepp Blatter wins Fifa presidency election: Controversial world football leader re-elected for fifth term as Prince Ali concedes defeat
Blatter will serve a fifth term as Fifa president after beating Prince Ali bin al-Hussein to a majority vote in Zurich
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Your support makes all the difference.Sepp Blatter has been elected Fifa president for a fifth term despite not gaining a majority vote over Prince Ali bin al-Hussein in the first round of the presidential election in Zurich.
The Fifa Congress meeting has been overshadowed by the dual investigation into alleged corruption at Fifa that led to 14 current and former Fifa members being arrested on Wednesday, seven of which were in Zurich, and who now face extradition to the United States to answer corruption charges brought by the FBI and Swiss prosecutors.
Blatter had been an overwhelming favourite to win a fifth term as Fifa president, but this week’s events suddenly put his future in question with intense calls for him to resign.
After nearly two hours of voting and counting in the first round, Blatter secured 133 of the votes compared to Prince Ali's 73, but with three Associates spoiling their vote and 206 choosing either candidate, it was not enough to meet the two-third majority need which would have been achieved with 138 votes.
However, after a brief deliberation with his camp, Prince Ali returned to the stage to withdraw from the presidency race, meaning Blatter had secured a fifth term as Fifa's president.
Speaking on stage, Prince Ali said: "I would like to thank those who were brave enough to support me."
Blatter said in his victory speech: "I thank you, you have accepted me for the next four years. I will be in command of this boat called Fifa. We will bring it back off shore."
He finished: "I like you. I like my job. I am not perfect. Nobody is perfect. But we will do a good job together I'm sure. I thank you so much for the trust and confidence, trust and confidence together we go. Let’s go Fifa! Let’s go Fifa!"
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