PARIS: Sepp Blatter will make a decision on whether to run for a fifth term as FIFA president before this year’s Congress in Sao Paulo in June, the Swiss said yesterday.
“Let me repeat what I have been saying. I am not yet tired enough to decide that I will retire,” he told L’Equipe 21 TV.
“Having said that everything is open. I will certainly take a stand before this year’s Congress.”
Blatter, who will be 78 in March, hinted that UEFA president Michel Platini could succeed him even though the once-close relationship between the two has become strained in recent years.
“He helped me become president in 1998 in Paris where it was us against the rest. It would be a logical continuation,” said the head of world soccer’s ruling body.
Blatter ended Brazilian Joao Havelange’s 24-year reign as president, winning the election in Paris against then-UEFA chief Lennart Johansson of Sweden.
He then defeated Issa Hayatou of Cameroon, president of the African confederation (CAF), in 2002 before winning a third term at the FIFA Congress five years later. Blatter remained in charge in 2011 when Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar withdrew from the election just days after being accused of being involved in a bribes for votes scandal.
Bin Hammam was later banned from football for life. A third man tipped as a possible presidential candidate is Frenchman Jerome Champagne who worked closely with Blatter at FIFA for 11 years.
Champagne was the president’s 2002 campaign manager before leaving FIFA in 2010. He has since been working as an independent consultant to a number of FAs.
Meanwhile, England will sign off for the World Cup finals with a home friendly against Peru, then take on Ecuador and Honduras in Miami before heading to Rio de Janeiro, the FA said yesterday.
The South-American themed internationals will provide manager Roy Hodgson with a final chance to prepare his squad for a testing World Cup group which begins with a clash against Italy in the jungle heat of Manaus on June 14. Peru will visit Wembley on May 30 with England then taking on Ecuador on June 4 and Honduras on June 7, both in Miami’s Sunlife Stadium, home to the Miami Dolphins.
“I’m delighted with the games we have been able to secure and the programme running up to the World Cup in general,” Hodgson, whose side also face Uruguay and Costa Rica in the finals, said.
Agencies
