Blatter seeks fifth term as FIFA president

My mission is not finished, says 78-year-old Swiss official.

MANCHESTER:

Fifa President Sepp Blatter said on Monday that he will be a candidate for a fifth term in charge of world football in an election next year.

"Yes I will be ready,” said Blatter in a video speech to a football conference in Manchester. “I will be a candidate.”Blatter has been Fifa's leader since 1998, but has faced growing criticism from European football chiefs in recent months.

The World Cup, a multi-billion dollar earner for Fifa, is also embroiled in controversy over the way the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were decided.

His path to a virtually automatic re-election was opened up after Uefa leader Michel Platini announced in August that he would not challenge Blatter.

The 78-year-old Swiss official said he would officially tell Fifa's executive committee at a meeting on September 23-24.

"I will inform the executive committee. It's a question of respect also to say then to the football family, 'Yes I will be ready. I will be a candidate’.”

Blatter said after winning his fourth term in 2011 that it would be his last, but made it clear in recent months that he has changed his mind.

The football boss said a majority of national associations had given him support at the Fifa Congress in Sao Paulo in June. Despite tensions with Uefa leaders, he gets widespread backing from Africa and other key regions.

"You see a mission is never finished. And my mission is not finished.

"Then I got through the last 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'."

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2014.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.