{"id":329001,"date":"2011-03-22T09:38:19","date_gmt":"2011-03-22T09:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/22\/blatter-to-stand-down-in-2015\/"},"modified":"2011-03-22T09:38:19","modified_gmt":"2011-03-22T09:38:19","slug":"blatter-to-stand-down-in-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/22\/blatter-to-stand-down-in-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Blatter &#8216;to stand down in 2015&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div readability=\"7\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/7387a3f5083_blatter.jpg.jpg\" width=\"466\" height=\"282\" alt=\"Sepp Blatter\" border=\"0\" vspace=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Switzerland&#8217;s Blatter took over as Fifa president from Joao Havelange in 1998<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t<br clear=\"all\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>Sepp Blatter says he will step down as Fifa president in 2015, if he is re-elected for a fourth term in June.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The 75-year-old, who has been head of world football&#8217;s governing body since 1998, is being challenged by Asian confederation chief Mohamed Bin Hammam. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You know I aspire to another four years,&#8221; he told a Uefa Congress on Tuesday. &#8220;But these will be the last years for which I stand as candidate.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>The new president will be elected at a Fifa Congress, which starts on 31 May. <\/p>\n<p><!-- E SF --><\/p>\n<p>With <\/p>\n<p>         <!-- S ILIN --><\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/sport2\/hi\/football\/9431704.stm\">Bin Hammam vowing to increase Fifa&#8217;s decision-making power<\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <!-- E ILIN --><\/p>\n<p> and spread its considerable wealth, Blatter is facing his first challenge since Issa Hayatou took him on &#8211; and lost &#8211; in 2002. <\/p>\n<p>Bin Hammam is also currently attending the Congress for European football&#8217;s governing body, Uefa, as the candidates lobby federation presidents for their vote on 1 June in Zurich. <\/p>\n<p>Uefa&#8217;s 53 member countries represent more than a quarter of the 208 Fifa voters that Blatter and Bin Hammam will attempt to woo. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is a significant announcement,&#8221; said the BBC&#8217;s Sports Editor, David Bond, from Paris. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the first time Blatter has said this in this campaign for the next presidential candidancy. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Clearly it&#8217;s a message to Uefa president Michel Platini, who would like to take over from Blatter in 2015. Platini is crucial to both candidates. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This might just help swing Platini&#8217;s support behind Blatter.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Bin Hammam has said he would be interested in cutting a deal with Platini to oust Blatter, but is likely to want eight years in office. <\/p>\n<p>The winner needs a two-thirds majority of valid votes cast in the first ballot, or a majority in the second.<\/p>\n<div readability=\"32\">\n<div>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" name=\"holdingImage\" class=\"holding\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/c8adf907ammam180311.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam\" id=\"holdingImage\" \/><\/p>\n<div readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Please turn on JavaScript.<\/strong> Media requires JavaScript to play. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t<!-- embedding script --><\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t<!-- caption --><\/p>\n<p>Bin Hammam to stand against Blatter<\/p>\n<p><!-- END - caption -->\n<\/div>\n<p>Fifa has set a deadline of 1 April for other candidates to be nominated by a single member federation. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are in extra-time,&#8221; said Blatter, referring to the time left before the election. &#8220;Let&#8217;s wait and see what the outcome will be.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Blatter came under fire following Fifa&#8217;s December vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, when allegations of corruption in the bidding process led to two executive committee members being suspended. <\/p>\n<p>While Bin Hammam insists Fifa is not corrupt, he has promised greater transparency if he wins. <\/p>\n<p>Blatter, meanwhile, believes that football&#8217;s main challenges in the coming years will be to preserve the identity of clubs, and to fight against illegal betting and doping. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Football is corrupted by all little devils which exist in the world,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t forget that football is a game and that when one is playing, he always tries to cheat a little bit. Together we have the task of bringing together the adventure we have started. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We want to ensure a better future for our youth.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p><!-- E BO --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/7387a3f5083_blatter.jpg-150x150.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Continue reading here:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/go\/rss\/-\/sport1\/hi\/football\/9432196.stm\" title=\"Blatter 'to stand down in 2015'\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blatter &#8216;to stand down in 2015&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Switzerland&#8217;s Blatter took over as Fifa president from Joao Havelange in 1998 Sepp Blatter says he will step down as Fifa president in 2015, if he is re-elected for a fourth term in June. The 75-year-old, who has been head of world football&#8217;s governing body since 1998, is being challenged by Asian confederation chief Mohamed Bin Hammam. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Blatter &#039;to stand down in 2015&#039; - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/22\/blatter-to-stand-down-in-2015\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Blatter &#039;to stand down in 2015&#039; - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Switzerland&#039;s Blatter took over as Fifa president from Joao Havelange in 1998 Sepp Blatter says he will step down as Fifa president in 2015, if he is re-elected for a fourth term in June. 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