FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter re-elected by acclamation

Those of the 207 FIFA member associations present who were eligible to vote have returned FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter for a third term of office until 2011 with a standing ovation. A boy then handed him a globe as a symbol of FIFA’s new slogan “For the Game. For the World.”

Blatter thanked the delegates for placing their trust in him and appealed for unity. “I am delighted to accept the 57th FIFA Congress’s mandate to serve as president during the 2007-2011 period. I am very happy, and together we will oversee four years of continued strength for football,” he said.

Upon reaching item 15 on the congress agenda, namely the election of the FIFA President, Blatter handed the floor to Senior Vice-President Julio Grondona (Argentina) and left the auditorium. Mr Grondona then requested the delegates on behalf of the Executive Committee to re-elect the president by acclamation. Applauded by the delegates and guests, the FIFA President was then invited back to the stage and was returned to office for another four years with a standing ovation.

Joseph S. Blatter is only the eighth president in the 103-year history of world football’s governing body. He was first appointed to the helm of FIFA in Paris on 8 June 1998. Four years later in Seoul on 29 May 2002, the associations confirmed his position. The extraordinary Congress in Doha in 2003 voted to prolong that mandate from four to five years so that the presidential election would take place in the year after the termination of the four-year financial period and thus not affect the FIFA World Cup™.

Former FIFA Presidents:

ROBERT GUÉRIN
France, 1904-1906

DANIEL BURLEY WOOLFALL
England, 1906-1918

JULES RIMET
France, 1921-1954

RODOLPHE WILLIAM SEELDRAYERS
Belgium, 1954-1955

ARTHUR DREWRY
England, 1955-1961

SIR STANLEY ROUS
England, 1961-1974

JOÃO HAVELANGE
Brazil, 1974-1998