FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter is to campaign for a second term at the head of world football’s governing body. The 65-year-old Swiss national announced his candidature today during an address at the international Football Expo event in Cannes.

Blatter, who was elected to football’s top job on 8 June 1998, had already informed FIFA’s 204 national associations of his candidature, referring to the great support he had received in previous weeks and months from over 100 national associations across all six confederations.

‘I take this as an important vote of confidence, for which I am hugely grateful in every way. It demonstrates that the dialogue between the national associations and the FIFA President, developed by the many programmes coordinated by FIFA and the personal contacts established since my election in Paris in 1998, is a most highly regarded form of cooperation,’ commented Blatter, who will shortly inform the national associations of the objectives he hopes to achieve for the development of football and the future of FIFA, should he be re-elected.

The FIFA Statutes (art. 13 par. 6) state that the names of the candidates for the presidency of the Federation must reach the FIFA general secretariat at least two months before the opening date of the Congress. For the election of the FIFA President, two thirds of the votes recorded in the first ballot are necessary. From the second ballot onwards, an absolute majority of the votes recorded suffices (art. 16 par. 3).

Joseph S. Blatter is the eighth President in the history of FIFA. The presidential elections will take place at the 53rd Ordinary FIFA Congress in Seoul on 28-29 May 2002.

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