Blatter to stand for fifth term
Fifa president Sepp Blatter plans to run for a fifth term as the boss of global football, Swiss newspaper Blick reported yesterday.
"I want to do this, because things aren't over yet. My mandate is running out, but my mission is not finished," said the 78-year-old.
Blick reported that Blatter's comments came in response to questions about his future during a debate it had organised between representatives of the Swiss business and sporting world at the Zurich headquarters of its publisher, Ringier.
Blatter has helmed Fifa, which is also based in Zurich, since 1998.
His decision to show his hand comes just weeks before the World Cup kicks off in Brazil on June 12. The election will be held next year.
The only candidate to have entered the race formally so far is Frenchman Jerome Champagne, an ex-diplomat and Fifa's former secretary general, who left the organisation in 2010.
- AFP.
Another death at W-Cup stadium
Fifa has expressed its sorrow following the death of a worker at a World Cup stadium in Brazil.
It was widely reported in Brazil on Thursday that a 32-year-old man died after receiving an electric shock while at work on the Arena Pantanal venue in Cuiaba. The stadium is due to stage four group-stage games but remains incomplete, with the final seats being installed this week.
He becomes the eighth worker to die during the construction of stadiums for this summer's tournament.
Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke wrote on Twitter: "Saddened by the death of worker Muhammad'Ali Maciel Afonso at Arena Pantanal today. My thoughts are with his family and colleagues." - PA Sport.
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