views
The head of US football said he was "disappointed" that Sepp Blatter was re-elected on Friday as president of FIFA but added he would continue to seek "meaningful change" within the embattled organisation.
Blatter, 79, secured a fifth term after Jordan's Prince Ali bin Al Hussein conceded defeat in the vote at the annual congress of world football's governing body in Zurich.
"While we are disappointed in the result of the election, we will continue to push for meaningful change within FIFA," US football President Sunil Gulati said in a statement.
"Our goal is for governance of FIFA that is responsible, accountable, transparent and focussed solely on the best interests of the game."
Voting was due to go to a second round after neither candidate got two thirds of the vote in the first round. Blatter received 133 votes and Prince Ali got 73.
Blatter's victory came despite demands that he quit in the face of a bribery scandal being investigated by US, Swiss and other law enforcement agencies that has ensnared FIFA into the deepest crisis in its 111-year history.
Gulati, who backed Prince Ali in the election, said that change was what "FIFA needs and deserves, and what the people who love our game around the world demand".
He added: "It is our hope (Blatter) will make reform his number one priority to ensure the integrity of the sport across the world."
The US Justice Department has accused top FIFA figures and sports executives of corruption, while Switzerland is looking into the award of the next World Cup finals to Russia and Qatar.
MIRED IN CONTROVERSY
Qatar's successful bid to host the World Cup has been mired in controversy due to allegations of corruption in the selection process, along with the country's baking summertime heat and its treatment of migrant labourers.
The United States, which last hosted the World Cup in 1994, has expressed an interest in hosting the 2026 edition but has not yet formally applied.
Alexi Lalas, a defender who had 96 caps for the US national team before retiring in 2002, did not believe the possibility of lingering resentment over the US-led corruption investigation would hurt American chances to land the world's biggest sporting event.
He said the money a US World Cup would generate would "mitigate some of the personal feelings" against an American bid.
"When it comes down to dollars and cents, nothing is going to make as much as a US World Cup," Lalas told Reuters. "To have that moment, and to have that windfall, would look good.
"The history and the memory of who voted for whom can take a backseat at that point to the potential for making an incredible amount of money."
After Friday's election in Zurich, US Senator Charles Schumer wrote to Blatter demanding that FIFA makes public the full findings of its 2012 internal investigation, which was conducted by former US Attorney Michael Garcia.
The report was delivered in September 2014 but never fully released. Garcia said the summary "contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations" of facts and conclusions in his report.
"You have an incredible opportunity at the start of your new term to usher in a new era of transparency in world football and begin to repair the damaged caused by multiple high-level members of your organisation in recent days," Schumer, a New York Democrat, wrote in his letter to Blatter.
"In that spirit, I urge you to release a full, un-redacted version of the Garcia Report."
Australia disappointed but promises to work with Blatter
Australia's football chief Frank Lowy has promised to work with Blatter to try to repair FIFA's tattered reputation despite his disappointment at the reelection of the Swiss as president of the game's world governing body.
Australia was the only country to publicly break with the 47-nation Asian Football Confederation's backing of Blatter, who won a fifth term in Zurich on Friday in an election overshadowed by allegations of rampant corruption in world football.
Football Federation Australia (FFA), still furious that their bid for the 2022 World Cup won just one vote as Qatar was controversially awarded the tournament, had announced they would back Blatter's Jordanian opponent, Prince Ali bin Al Hussein.
"It is a democracy and Mr Blatter was duly elected," Lowy, the billionaire owner of the Westfield shopping centre empire, said in a statement.
"He was very clear in acknowledging that FIFA faced a real challenge to restore its standing and Australia will play its role along with other associations to try to achieve this.
"The vote secured by Prince Ali was not insignificant and reflects a belief within FIFA and the world football community that governance and other reforms need to be implemented as soon as possible."
Australia, which joined the AFC in 2006, was hailed by some for its move in breaking with Asia but might now face a backlash from a leadership which was among Blatter's staunchest allies.
Kuwaiti powerbroker Sheikh Ahmad al Fahad al Sabah, the head of the Olympic Council of Asia, recently joined FIFA's executive committee along with his Bahraini protege, AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa, a FIFA vice president.
There are already rumblings in West Asia that Australia's switch to the Asian confederation has effectively reduced the region's allocation of World Cup berths by one because of the strength of the Socceroos.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
Australia's stand against Blatter would have caused disquiet at AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and Lowy perhaps wisely chose to dampen expectations when asked if he would consider backing European calls for a World Cup boycott.
"Listen, we are 24 million people out of seven billion people in the world," the FFA chairman told Fox TV in Switzerland.
"What? Do you think we can make a difference to what happens in the world? It's just over-expectation of us."
Trans-Tasman neighbours New Zealand also voted for Prince Ali and the head of the country's football federation (NZF) said he had expected more support for Blatter's challenger.
"Personally I'm very surprised that more people didn't think there was a need to change," NZF chief executive Andy Martin told local media on Saturday.
"Given his (Blatter's) tenure in the role, and that a lot of problems have happened in that time, it's quite difficult to accept that he wasn't aware or able to do anything to affect the change that's needed today.
"A lot of what's been talked about is around very strong governance and transparency.
"Sepp Blatter needs to show strong collaborative leadership and we'll be holding them accountable."
NZF had previously backed Blatter, with the 11-nation Oceania Football Confederation unanimously backing the 79-year-old at their regional Congress in Papua New Guinea in January.
New Zealand is currently hosting the Under-20 World Cup, the third global age-group football tournament they have hosted during Blatter's tenure, and Martin said he doubted there would be repercussions from their stance.
"I'm not expecting any backlashes but we'll take them as they come," he said. "It was clear from our footballing family what needed to be done and we think we've done the right thing.
"If FIFA is to move forward it needs to be able to take constructive criticism.
"Football's reputation is severely damaged."
Comments
0 comment