The prospect of Sepp Blatter continuing as FIFA president into his early 80s came a step nearer yesterday when he confirmed he was standing for a fifth term of office next year.
Blatter, who will be 79 when the votes are cast next June and who was first elected 16 years ago, confirmed his candidature for another term as president in a recorded interview transmitted to delegates at the Soccerex Global Convention.
“You see a mission is never finished and my mission is not finished,” he said, adding that he would tell members of FIFA’s EXCO of his candidature at the end of this month.
“I got (from) the last (FIFA) congress in Sao Paulo not only the impression but the support of the majority, a huge majority of national associations asking ‘Please go on, be our president also in future.’
“Now I would make an official declaration definitely in September (to stand).
“I will inform the executive committee. It’s a question of respect also to say then to the football family, ‘Yes I will be a candidate’.”
The news comes as little surprise as Blatter had dropped strong hints he would stand again and if he sees out his potential four-year term he will be 83 by the time of the next planned election in 2019.
In the last 40 years FIFA has had just two presidents. Joao Havelange ruled from 1974 until 1998 when Blatter, his former secretary general, took over.
Before the World Cup started in Brazil in June, five of FIFA’s six confederations – the exception being UEFA – gave Blatter their support to continue as president and it is almost inconceivable that he will not be re-elected when voting takes place in Zurich next June.
Last month Michel Platini ended speculation about his bid for the presidency when he said he would not stand for election – instead he will seek another term as the president of UEFA.
The only other declared candidate is the former FIFA deputy secretary general Frenchman Jerome Champagne, although his campaign might well be cancelled now Blatter has declared his interest.
Blatter said that if he were re-elected he would like to give coaches the right to challenge refereeing decisions.
“I will propose it to the International Board (the game’s law-making body),” he said.
“They (coaches) should have the right maybe once or twice in a half, the means to challenge a refereeing decision.”
Winter World Cup
FIFA have revived the possibility of staging the 2022 World Cup in January and February after Blatter previously ruled out the idea last year.
Three possible time slots were discussed for the tournament as a FIFA task force, set up specifically to decide once and for all when it should take place, met for the first time yesterday.
Qatar was awarded the World Cup on the widely held understanding that it would be staged in the summer despite the searing heat in the country.
Although Qatar has insisted that a summer World Cup is viable thanks to cooling technologies it is developing for stadiums, training areas and fan zones, there is still widespread concern over the health of the players and visiting supporters.
“Discussions centred around the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and participants were presented with information on the implications of staging the event in winter as opposed to summer, as proposed by the FIFA executive committee,” FIFA said in a statement.