{"id":19121,"date":"2014-05-16T17:37:02","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T17:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=19121"},"modified":"2014-05-16T17:39:16","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T17:39:16","slug":"sepp-blatter-has-drive-to-continue-as-fifa-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/05\/sepp-blatter-has-drive-to-continue-as-fifa-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Sepp Blatter to seek 5th term as FIFA President"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sepp Blatter has given his clearest indication yet that he will stand for a fifth term as Fifa president in 2015.<\/p>\n
After retaining his post unopposed in June 2011, the 78-year-old Swiss, who has held the role since 1998,\u00a0had said he would not contest the next election.<\/a><\/p>\n But he told Swiss television station RTS: “Of course I want to continue. I have the drive to continue.”<\/p>\n Last week, Blatter reportedly confirmed that he would certainly run again,\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0but Fifa denied that was the case.<\/p>\n Fifa vice-president Jeffrey Webb<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0former deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne<\/a>\u00a0have been tipped as successors to Blatter, but both have said they would not stand in opposition to the current incumbent if he stood for election in Zurich in June 2015.<\/p>\n “The path to the throne is not yet open,” Blatter added.<\/p>\n “There are a lot of people who would like to take this position but they realise it is not a bed of roses.”<\/p>\n Speculation that Uefa president Michel Platini, who has been a close ally of Blatter, might succeed the Swiss at the world governing body has cooled since\u00a0the former France midfielder opted against running in 2011.<\/a><\/p>\n Blatter appeared to dismiss the possibility that Platini could revive a bid for the sport’s top job, saying the Frenchman “is a man with a very deep character, he wouldn’t do it.”<\/p>\n