Embattled Sepp Blatter had a 133-73 edge over his sole opponent, Prince Ali of Jordan, in the first round of ballotingfor FIFA president and is expected to win election for a fifth term as FIFA president.
The first round required two-thirds of the 209 votes cast for a winner to be declared. Three of the voteswere invalidated.
Despite a scandal-ridden historydating back to charges of improprieties with his first election in 1998 and the indictmentson Wednesday of 14 FIFA officials and sports executives on charges related to kickback schemes totaling more than $150 million, Blatter was expected to win easily, based on support fromtraditional power bases in Asia and Africa, which account for almost half of FIFA’s 209 members.
FIFA’s 209 Members:
54 CAF (Africa)
53 UEFA (Europe)
46 AFC (Asia)
35Concacaf (North, Central America & Caribbean)
11 Oceania
10 Conmebol(South America)
Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, an international sports power broker and new addition to FIFA’s executivecommittee, came out in support of the 79-year-old Blatter, for whom he is now considered a possible successor following the arrest of Blatter protege JeffreyWebb, the president of Concacaf.
“FIFA should have a leader with a lot of experience,” Sheikh Ahmad, president of the Olympic Council of Asia,
While Blatter’s support from Asia was overwhelming — Prince Ali’s support was believed to limited to members of the West Asian Football Federation that hefounded — Africa was voting as a bloc for Blatter.
The biggest opposition to Blatter came not for the first time from UEFA, where as many as 46 of its 53 members were supporting PrinceAli, according to its president, Michel Platini. Conmebol, at the center of the kickback scandal, withdrew its support for Blatter.
Gulati: ‘This is a vote for good governance’
U.S. Soccer president SunilGulati, a member of FIFA’s powerful executive committee, had on Thursday said his organization would vote for the Princeton-educated Prince Ali, 39.
“It really startswith his views on governance and reform,” said Gulati. “This is a vote for good governance.”
The vote was not taken lightly, given the possibility of the politicalfallout from the vote in 2017 when the USA is expected to bid to host the 2026 World Cup.
“Would we like to host the [’26] World Cup? The answer is, of course, yes,” saidGulati. “But for me and U.S. soccer, having CONCACAF and FIFA governed and managed with integrity is far more important than hosting the World Cup or any other event. And that’s our focus rightnow.”