Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Sao Paulo: FIFA President Sepp Blatter received a standing ovation as he signalled his intention to ask for another four-year term at the head of world football at the AFC Congress on Monday.
Blatter's current term at the helm of the game's governing body will end in May next year but the Swiss, who has been in charge of the global game since his successful election in Paris in 1998, will seek a fifth term as FIFA President.
"You will know that my mandate will finish in 2015. My mission is not finished, but my mandate is," said Blatter. "Still, it burns inside me like a fire.
"It's 39 years that I am a development officer in FIFA and we have again a situation where we need leadership. I will just ask you, at the end of the Congress if you will join or not, if I will be your president in the future.
"This I will ask you, not now. You can say yes or no, but I would like to ask it at Congress."
Those comments prompted a standing ovation from AFC delegates, which was greeted by President Blatter, who said: "I shall take that as a yes."
President Blatter also commended Asian Football Confederation President Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa on his first year in charge of the body, heralding the stability he has brought to the AFC since his election in May last year.
"I want to commend this Congress on the decision taken one year ago," said Blatter. "There was some disturbance of the waters around the AFC organisation and you, the Congress, decided to change the leadership and decided to go forward.
"I'm very happy with the election of Shaikh Salman Al Khalifa. You now have a new leader, you have a leader that not only wants to be a leader, you have a president with ideas that will be applied as initiatives.
"I would like to compliment the executive committee and your confederation for the great job they are doing."
Blatter also signalled FIFA's intention to award further payments to Member Associations and to all confederations as a result of the anticipated commercial success of the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil.
"I'm happy to announce our finances at FIFA are still comfortable and I'm happy to announce that, at Congress, after the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, we were able to give all national associations a bonus and we will be able to do that again after this World Cup," he said.
"There will be two bonuses, because we don't forget about the confederation, which will get a bonus and I'm sure you will be very happy with that."