By Andrew Warshaw
January 17 – In the latest move of an intriguing guessing game, FIFA president Sepp Blatter says he will decide before the World Cup whether to stand for a fifth term as head of football’s world governing body.
When re-elected in 2011 for another four years, Blatter indicated it would be his final term and that he would hand over to someone else in May next year after 17 years at the helm.
More recently, however, he has indicated that he may change his mind and in an interview recorded with a televideo offshoot of L’Equipe magazine this week, Blatter gave the biggest hint yet that he will do exactly that.
He said he would make his position clear before this year’s FIFA Congress in Sao Paolo which precedes the World Cup in Brazil.
“I repeat what I have said before: I do not feel tired enough to decide to retire,” said Blatter. “With that, everything remains open. I will certainly state my intention before congress this year.”
Making a decision at or before congress would give Blatter the perfect platform to gain maximum exposure among his supporters, with FIFA’s 209 nations converging on St. Paolo.
His latest comments are in contrast to those of Michel Platini, expected to be his main rival for the presidency. The UEFA boss said last year he will not decide whether to run until after the World Cup but may now decide to bring that forward to avoid Blatter gaining the moral high ground.
Other possible contenders include Spain’s FIFA vice-president Angel Maria Villar Llona and the canny Jerome Champagne who, since leaving the FIFA administration under a cloud in 2010 after 11 years, has been primarily working as an independent consultant for several territories including northern Cyprus and Kosovo.
Blatter, who will be 78 this March, has stated in the past that Platini would be his obvious successor but the once tight relationship between the two has become strained.
“He helped me become president in 1998 in Paris where it was us against the rest. It would be a logical continuation,” said Blatter, who ended Joao Havelange’s 24-year reign as president in 1998, winning a bitter election contest in Paris against then-UEFA chief Lennart Johansson.
Four years later, Blatter remained all-powerful as he crushed Africa’s top administrator Issa Hayatou before being re-elected again in 2011 when he ran unopposed after Qatar’s Mohamed Bin Hammam withdrew over the infamous cash-for-votes scandal.
Tellingly, as Blatter’s latest comments became widely reported, so Champagne scheduled a news conference for Monday at a central London venue.
Whilst the multi-lingual former French diplomat is keeping his cards close to his chest, it is widely anticipated that he will outline his own position as far as the FIFA presidency is concerned. But whether he will officially announce his campaign at such short notice is unclear.
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