Sepp Blatter has won the election for FIFA president and is set to serve a fifth term as head man of world soccer’s governing body.
Candidate Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein forced a second-round vote after Blatter didn’t capture two-thirds of the votes (133-73) from the first round.
Al-Hussein ultimately withdrew from the race knowing he couldn’t make up for the significant gap in votes.
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FA chairman Greg Dyke believes Blatter, amid his long controversial reign that has been damaged further by the FBI’s founding of corruption, may have his term cut short.Dyke said, per Football365.com: “To quote the Attorney General, ‘this is the beginning of the process, not the end’. I think there is an awful lot more of this to play out....The idea Blatter could reform FIFA is suspect. I’d be very surprised if he was still in this job in two years’ time.
“I think we all expected him to win and I think that Prince Ali gettting it to a second ballot wouldn’t have happened if we had this vote a week ago and I think that’s the impact of the events of this week.
“But I think this isn’t over by any means because the events of this week are so dramatic for FIFA that I cannot see FIFA reforming itself under Blatter, he’s had 16 years to reform it and he hasn’t done it.”
Over the years, Blatter has impaired his personal image by claiming no knowledge of FIFA corruption, but now that a legitimate FBI investigation has identified misconduct, the chance Blatter is found responsible for illegal activity, in some form, has certainly increased.
As of now, though, the FBI has found no concrete evidence against Blatter, and several third-world nations---possibly based on spreading of soccer wealth, literally and metaphorically---still support him.