FIFA president reelected amid scandal

Sepp Blatter, the longtime president of FIFA, was reelected to a fifth term on Friday, days after the Justice Department charged numerous top officials at soccer’s international governing body in a corruption probe.

Blatter was reelected in a secret ballot during FIFA’s annual Congress in Zurich after his main challenger, Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, conceded after the first round of voting, according to The New York Times.

Blatter initially failed to secure a two-thirds majority to win, getting only 133 votes to al-Hussein’s 73. The second round would have required only a simple majority, leaving his challenger unlikely to win. 

{mosads}Blatter, who has helmed FIFA since 1998, is denying responsibility for a corruption scandal that led to the U.S. indictments of more than a dozen soccer officials.

After the vote, Blatter acknowledged that he was “a little bit nervous” heading into the election, but noted that most members had put their faith in him again.

He praised al-Hussein, who had surprisingly strong support, as “a good candidate.”

“But I am now the president of everybody. So I am the president of everybody,” Blatter said to mild applause. “President of the whole FIFA. Voila.”

Justice Department officials on Wednesday unveiled a 47-count indictment, with charges including racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering.

Swiss authorities arrested seven FIFA officials on the U.S. charges and are also conducting their own investigation into the decision to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) called on FIFA’s Congress to elect another president and depose Blatter hours before Wednesday’s arrests. 

Menendez renewed his call for Blatter to step aside after the indictments were made public and called for FIFA to strip the 2018 World Cup from Russia.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the U.S. of overstepping its legal authority. 

This story was updated at 2:29 p.m.