Soccer:The power to award World Cup hosting rights will in future be taken away from an elite group of executives and entrusted instead to Fifa's full 208-member congress, the sport's governing body's president Sepp Blatter said today.
Blatter, 75, was later re-elected to the post unopposed after an attempt by the English Football Association to block the vote ended in heavy defeat.
A secret ballot saw Blatter, left as the only candidate following Mohamed Bin Hammam’s withdrawal on Sunday hours before he was provisionally banned on bribery charges, re-elected with 186 votes from the 203 voting members.
In his victory speech, Blatter told the Fifa congress in Zurich: “I thank you for your trust and confidence from the bottom of my heart and together we will have four more years — provided the Lord gives me the life, the energy and the strength to continue on our path.
“I’m happy today we were once again able to bring solidarity and unity into Fifa. We shall move forward, we will put Fifa’s ship back on the right course in clear, transparent waters. We need some time, we cannot do it overnight, but we will do it.
“I am deeply moved, I am honoured and I thank you. This is a new challenge and I accept it. I thank you for your trust and confidence. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
“I’m happy that we were able to bring today into Fifa once again this solidarity, this unity that allows us with the sufficient courage but also with a positive standpoint to move forward.”
He echoed an earlier speech in which he described himself as the captain of the ship Fifa moving out of troubled waters, saying: “We shall do it. We will put Fifa’s ship back on the right course in clear transparent waters.
“We will need some time, we cannot do it from one day to the next, but we shall do it.
“Our pyramid is intact. It is where it’s supposed to be. This pyramid is strong because the basis, the foundation of this pyramid, is solid and just as solid as our game, this passionate game throughout the world.
“I would simply like to tell you that I’m deeply moved, I’m honoured and I thank you. But at the same time this is a challenge for me, it’s a new challenge, but I accept it because I’m with you and together we shall do it.”
He called for time, courage, energy, trust and confidence.
The victory speech received a short round of applause from the delegates.
In his earlier address to congress in Zurich, the Swiss also said Fifa's Ethics Committee would be reinforced and empowered to punish any wrong-doers with its members selected by the full congress as well.
World soccer's governing body has been left bloodied by a series of bribery and corruption allegations over the last few months, and Blatter said "the evils" affecting Fifa had stemmed from last December's decision to award 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.
He said the situation Fifa now found itself in was “undignified” and said he would work to prevent Fifa from ever being in this position again.
In the space of the few days leading up to the 61st congress, Qatar was tainted by suggestions it had bought the 2022 World Cup; the head of Asian soccer, Bin Hammam, and Concacaf chief Jack Warner were suspended over bribery allegations.
