Blatter rebuffs limit proposal

Fifa president has his wish to reject eight-year tenure limit granted

By Jamie Casey   Last updated: 19th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Blatter rebuffs limit proposal

Blatter: Proposal fell on deaf ears

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A proposal to introduce a new eight-year limit on the Fifa presidency reign has been rejected by football's world governing body.

Asian confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam had proposed the limit at Friday's Fifa executive committee meeting in Zurich.

It is believed the proposal was not a personal swipe at current president Sepp Blatter, who has been in charge since June 1998 and will hope to continue beyond next year's elections.

Rather, it was an attempt to open up competition for the leading role at Fifa, with Bin Hammam expected to be in the running against Blatter next time around.

The notion was rebuffed in an immediate vote against a limit, which would not have come into effect until 2011, but Blatter revealed the feeling within the organisation was that it was unfeasible.

"Mohamed Bin Hammam proposed that the future mandate of the presidency is limited to eight years - twice for four years - and no more," said Blatter.

"This motion was rejected by 15 votes to five with one abstention. This would only have been relevant for the presidential elections after 2011.

"They have repeated that this is nothing personal but the executive committee was of the opinion that this is a matter for the Fifa Congress.

"The argument which was brought forward was why should the Fifa presidential office be touched by such a limit and none of the confederation presidents?

"If there should be such a limit of mandates then it should be valid for everybody in Fifa and not just the president."

Blatter's position in charge appears to have strengthened after financial results for 2009 showed revenue was 1.059billion US dollars (£702million), an increase of 18%.

The Swiss claims some of the profits will be dispersed to national associations and confederations while believing Fifa to be at the top end of governing bodies in sport.

"We are comfortable - I would not say we are rich but we are happy," added Blatter. "Compared to Fifa, the International Olympic Committee's equity is far behind."

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