FIFA Congress rules election can go ahead

President Sepp Blatter promised to give more power to the 208 national federations at the expense of the restricted executive committee if FIFA’s congress re-elects him on Wednesday.

There remained little doubt that the Swiss executive would get a fourth and final four-year term after England’s call for a postponement of the election amid soccer’s corruption scandals was overwhelmingly rejected.

Blatter, the only remaining candidate, said he would work to make sure the World Cup would in the future be picked in a vote by all federations instead of the 24 executive committee members, several of whom have been involved in bribery scandals.

EDT World Soccer Gallery Blatter’s only challenger, executive committee member Mohamed bin Hammam, withdrew over the weekend before being suspended on bribery allegations.

Hours ahead of the election, Blatter told his Congress that the worst scandal in the body’s history could be solved within FIFA itself with him in charge.

England’s FA chairman David Bernstein had called for a postponement of the election for several months to allow for the corruption scandals to be cleared up, saying that “a coronation without an opponent provides a flawed mandate.”

However, 172 of the 208 delegations rejected England’s call.

The overwhelming margin left little doubt that Blatter would easily be re-elected later Wednesday. The Swiss executive said that getting the world body to recover from the damaging scandals would be his major task.

“We have been hit and I personally have been slapped,” Blatter said of the criticism and allegations facing FIFA and himself. “I don’t want that ever again.”

To reform, Blatter promised a more democratic outlook with more power flooding down the institutional pyramid to the national federations themselves. The selection of the World Cup is a vital issue since it is by far FIFA’s most important source of income.

He called for strengthening the institutions in an extraordinary Congress.

“We must stop once and for all, all these ugly criticisms, allegations, insinuations of cheating left, right and center,” he said.

“The FIFA ship is in troubled waters but this ship must be brought back on the right track,” Blatter said in an opening address. “I am the captain of the ship.”

“It is therefore my duty and responsibility to see to it that we get back on track,” he said.

Bin Hammam and FIFA vice president Jack Warner were suspended pending the conclusion of a probe into allegations that Caribbean soccer leaders were paid $40,000 each to back Bin Hammam’s presidential bid.

Germany, a founding member of FIFA, called for a review of the December vote that gave Qatar the 2022 World Cup in order to scrutinize corruption allegations.

AP Sports Writers Rob Harris and Graham Dunbar in Zurich and Nesha Starcevic in Frankfurt contributed to this report.