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By David Owen
March 19 – FIFA has decided against putting a limit on the time that anyone can serve as FIFA President, in a move portrayed as a fillip for current incumbent, Sepp Blatter (pictured).
Meeting in Zurich today, the ruling Executive Committee rejected a proposal to bring to the FIFA Congress a request to limit the mandate of the FIFA Presidency to two consecutive terms of four years.
The decision - by 15 votes to five, with one abstention - was seen as a boost to Blatter largely because the proposal was from Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Mohamed Bin Hammam, who is viewed as a potential challenger for the leadership next year, when Blatter, 74, is expected to seek a fourth term.
Floating his proposal last month, Bin Hammam told The Guardian: “I genuinely believe eight years is enough for every President to focus on football.”
The limit would only have applied from 2011, however, and so would not have prevented Blatter, who has been President since 1998, from running again.
The Executive Committee also approved FIFA’s 2009 financial report, which recorded a positive result of $196 million (£130 million), achieved on revenue of over $1 billion (£666 million).
The budget for the 2011-2014 four-year cycle anticipates revenue of $3.8 billion (£2.5 billion) and expenses of $3.6 billion (£2.3 billion).
Of that figure, 74 per cent is to be earmarked for football development projects and the organisation of competitions.
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