Blatter re-elected FIFA president, defying calls to quit over graft fiasco

Amid the biggest corruption crisis in the organization's 111-year history, FIFA President Sepp Blatter was re-elected to another term Friday after his challenger Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein withdrew from a second ballot.

Neither candidate was able to secure a two-thirds majority needed to win outright in the initial count. But having trailed Blatter by 60 votes — 73 to 133 — in the first round of voting, Prince Ali opted to drop out of a subsequent ballot, which would have been decided by a simply majority.

“You have voted for me, all those who have voted for Prince Ali, I congratulate you, [he’s] a good candidate,” Blatter said after being re-elected. “But I’m now the president of everybody. So I’m the president of everybody ... president of the whole FIFA.” 

The 79-year-old Blatter will serve another four-year term as the head of world soccer's governing body. But in that role he is likely to face his most significant challenge yet as he seeks to regain confidence in FIFA following corruption charges.

After Blatter beat Europe's preferred candidate to capture a fifth term, Michel Platini, the president of the European soccer body UEFA, issued a defiant statement. "I am proud that UEFA has defended and supported a movement for change at FIFA. Change which in my opinion is crucial if this organization is to regain its credibility," Platini said.

European delegates had backed Prince Ali, who was praised Friday by his older brother Prince Feisal Al-Hussein, who said, "Prince Ali ran a strong campaign and the manner in which it was conducted has done Jordan proud."

Prior to the vote, Blatter said that he would "accept responsibility" for the "current storm" engulfing FIFA, telling the room of soccer delegates from around the world, "I want to fix FIFA together with you."

"I want to do it now and tomorrow and the day after and the weeks and months to come," Blatter said. "We will change things in the future, starting tomorrow." 

"We have to recover our good name, and we will start tomorrow morning with this goal in mind," Blatter said in a speech ahead of the vote.

Prince Ali told delegates gathered for the FIFA Congress "there could not be a more defining moment in time ... than this one," as he tried to convince delegates to vote for him. 

"There are no easy answers," Prince Ali said in reference to the corruption charges against high-ranking members of the organization. "No blame can be cast to wash away the stain that marks us all." 

But Prince Ali said it would "take a committed leader to fix this mess that we are in."

FIFA takes in billions of dollars in revenue from television marketing rights and sponsorships, making it one of the wealthiest and most powerful sports bodies in the world. It has been dogged by corruption scandals for decades, mostly investigating itself and avoiding scrutiny by criminal courts.

Blatter said Friday the FIFA crisis stemmed from the decision to award Russia and Qatar the next two World Cup tournaments. In 2010, Russia was chosen to host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar was awarded the 2022 tournament amid widespread allegations of wrongdoing in the selection process.

"If two other countries had emerged from the envelope, I think we would not have these problems today," Blatter said. "But we can't go back in time. We are not prophets. We can't say what would have happened."

The United States was one of the losing bidders for the 2022 World Cup. On Wednesday, U.S. authorities indicted 14 people on bribery, racketeering, fraud and money-laundering charges going back to the 1990s.

Seven of the officials — including two serving FIFA vice presidents — were arrested in Zurich on Wednesday ahead of the congress.

"I am not going to use the word coincidence, but I do have a small question mark," Blatter said about the timing of the raid.

The scandal widened Friday when Britain's Serious Fraud Office said it was examining possible corruption at FIFA. A judge in Argentina has ordered the arrest of three businessmen accused of using bribery to obtain soccer media rights, and the Brazilian Senate moved to open a formal inquiry into soccer bribery allegations.

The criminal investigations have cast a shadow on Blatter's 17-year reign as FIFA president. Amid the dramatic build up to the election, UEFA president Michel Platini appealed to Blatter on Thursday to immediately step down — calls Blatter rejected.

"I am willing to accept the president of FIFA is responsible for everything, but I would at least like to share that responsibility with everyone," Blatter said in a presidential address Friday morning. "We cannot constantly supervise everyone in football ... you cannot ask everyone to behave ethically."

Al Jazeera and wire services