Soccer: Sepp Blatter re-elected as Fifa president

9.15am

SEOUL, South Korea - Sepp Blatter has been re-elected as Fifa president after defeating Cameroon's Issa Hayatou at the congress of soccer's world governing body.

Blatter secured a second four-year term by 139 votes to 56 over Hayatou in a secret ballot held during a congress of Fifa's national associations in Seoul, two days before the start of the World Cup finals being co-hosted by South Korea and Japan.

The no-holds-barred election campaign was dominated by allegations of corruption and mismanagement leveled against Blatter, whom critics accuse of plunging Fifa into a financial crisis.

Blatter has denied any wrongdoing.

New Zealand voted with the majority.

New Zealand Soccer chief executive Bill MacGowan, who was in Seoul for the congress, said New Zealand cast its vote for Blatter, despite accusations of financial irregularities and vote-buying under Blatter's presidency.

MacGowan said New Zealand held off casting its vote until late in the piece.

"We had a chat with Hayatou about 20 minutes before the vote.

"I think Blatter got there because he's just a very, very wily old politician and he works a room incredibly well," MacGowan told Radio Sport today.

MacGowan said another major factor in Blatter's re-election was his promise to every nation of $500,000 every year for development.

MacGowan said this wasn't simply a vote handout, and New Zealand Soccer would have to work for it.

REUTERS and NZPA

nzherald.co.nz/fifaworldcup

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