Blatter the only one

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Joseph Blatter

THE PRESENT FIFA incumbent, President Joseph Blatter, is the only candidate of the world governing body's presidential election to be held during the 57th FIFA Congress in Zurich on 31 May. By the 31 March deadline for submitting candidatures, no other candidates had put their names forward .

Only the member associations of FIFA may propose candidates for the office of president. No fewer than 66 associations from all six confederations nominated Blatter for a third mandate at the helm of FIFA.

Having announced his readiness to stand for a further period of office at the last Congress in Munich in June 2006, Blatter was pleased with the show of confidence in his presidency. "I wish to thank all of the associations who have demonstrated their trust in me in this way," he said. "Over the past nine years, I have managed to overcome a range of difficulties and bring about several improvements thanks to their help and to the support of other members of the global football family. During my third period of office, football will acquire a more pronounced and extensive social role," explained Blatter, who will announce his manifesto at the Congress in the Zurich Hallenstadion.

Blatter was first elected as the eighth president of FIFA at the Congress in Paris on 8 June 1998. Four years later in Seoul on 29 May 2002, the associations confirmed his position as president. An extraordinary congress in Doha in 2003 voted to prolong that mandate from four to five years so that the presidential election would take place in the year after the termination of the four-year financial period and thus not affect the World Cup. Blatter is therefore standing for a third mandate, this time for four years until 2011.