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It has been a good couple of weeks for Joseph Blatter, FIFA’s veteran President.
First, FIFA’s ruling Executive Committee rejected a proposal that might have limited the presidency’s mandate to two consecutive terms of four years.
The measure would not have interfered with Blatter’s efforts to secure a fourth term in the top job, since the limit would only have applied from 2011, when the 74-year-old Swiss national’s current term ends.
But the proposal - rejected by 15 votes to five, with one abstention - was from Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Mohamed Bin Hammam, a man viewed as a potential leadership challenger.
The outcome might thus be construed as an indication of the enduring depth of support for the incumbent among world football’s most powerful figures.
And there was more good news for the FIFA President last week, when Michel Platini, the French midfield general turned administrative reformer, announced that he would stand for a second term as President of UEFA, the European football Confederation.
Barring something very unexpected - such as some disaster befalling this year’s World Cup - the move appears to rule out any prospect of Platini running for the FIFA job in 2011.
This should in turn make it much easier for Blatter, as a European candidate, to secure the majority of European votes.
A post-Executive Committee visit by the FIFA President to Saudi Arabia was being interpreted last week as a signal that he is now campaigning for a fourth term in earnest.
He first served notice of his intention last October, with a distinctively Blatteresque turn of phrase, saying: “I hope that in 2011 the FIFA Congress once more has faith in me, otherwise I’ll go back to my village.”
Notwithstanding these heartening developments, it is my understanding that certain well-placed and well-resourced individuals remain determined that Blatter should face a challenger though.
And following meetings in Zurich this month, I understand that Ricardo Terra Teixeira (pictured with Blatter), the FIFA Executive Committee member from Brazil, is starting to be viewed as a possible candidate.
Teixeira, whose 63rd birthday will coincide with the keenly awaited World Cup clash between Brazil and Côte d’Ivoire in June, has one big feather in his cap, having helped to secure Brazil’s first World Cup for 64 years in 2014.
And with no South American country bidding to stage the 2018 or 2022 tournaments, he is unlikely to be preoccupied with these contests in the way that some of his Executive Committee colleagues will be.
Bin Hammam’s country of Qatar, for example, wants to host the 2022 competition.
On the other hand, South American candidates start with something of a built-in disadvantage, simply because their home confederation incorporates relatively few countries and therefore votes - just 10.
The wily Blatter, moreover, would be the most formidable of rivals, particularly with most of Europe onside.
Will Teixeira run? We’ll have to wait and see. When I tried to reach him, I was referred to the Brazilian Football Confederation.
What seems sure is that intrigue over the FIFA leadership will continue to provide a fascinating sub-plot to the race for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups for the rest of the year.
David Owen is a specialist sports journalist who worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering last year’s Beijing Olympics. An archive of Owen’s material may be found by Twitter users at www.twitter.com/dodo938