Sepp Blatter voted in for a fifth term

Sepp Blatter is to serve a further term as the head of Fifa, the football world’s governing body.

This will be Blatter's fifth term, despite calls for his resignation after the corruption scandal exploded on Wednesday, and will see him in post until the age of 83.

Blatter was re-elected after winning the vote against the challenger Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan.

Prince Ali withdrew after the first round despite Blatter not getting the two thirds majority he needed.

Delegates at the 65th Fifa Congress in Zurich then decided Blatter was the best person for the job in the face of a howling gale of public opposition.

Seven Fifa officials, including its vice-president Jeffrey Webb, were arrested by the Swiss authorities earlier this week after receiving a request from the US Justice Department this Wednesday.

All now face extradition to the United States where they are likely to be charged with money laundering, racketeering and wire fraud.

The Swiss Attorney General announced his own investigation into the award to Russia and Qatari of hosting the next two World Cups and into unnamed people on charges of "criminal mismanagement and money laundering."

Despite these high profile arrests and the bribery allegations that have dogged his career, Blatter said that only a "tiny minority" of Fifa officials may have been open to corruption and his unerring self-belief tells him that he is the only man big enough for the job of calming the troubled waters created on his watch.

Michel Platini, the president of UEFA tried to persuade Blatter to step down as president and voted against Blatter’s reappointment, a move neither man is likely to forget.

Prince Ali failed to get sufficient support even though the Blatter camp was in disarray and the long-serving Fifa president will be able to carry on in the world’s top football management post into his 80s, unless he also is arrested, charged, extradited, convicted and sent to jail, as many hope.

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