Sepp Blatter today confirmed that he will stand for re-election as president of FIFA, soccer's world governing body. The 65-year-old, who was first elected in June 1998, announced his intention to stay on in football's most powerful position during an address at the Football Expo event in Cannes and claims to have the backing of over 100 national associations across all six FIFA confederations.
"I take this as an important vote of confidence, for which I am hugely grateful in every way," he said. "It demonstrates that the dialogue between the national associations and the FIFA president, developed by the many programmes co-ordinated by FIFA and the personal contacts established since my election in Paris in 1998, is a most highly regarded form of co-operation." The presidential election will take place at the FIFA Congress in Seoul on May 28-29.
Meanwhile, Blatter also confirmed in his address that the 2010 World Cup will take place in Africa. He mentioned South Africa, Morocco and Egypt as possible host countries and said the presidents of the six football confederations would meet next week to decide exactly how rotation of the World Cup would work beyond 2010 and also to examine whether or not the possibility of holding a World Cup every two years has any viability.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
