Blatter to stand for re-election in 2011

October 20 - FIFA President Sepp Blatter (pictured) will run for re-election in 2011, promising he still wants to introduce new initiatives to develop football worldwide, he said today.

The 73-year-old Swiss was elected president of FIFA in 1998, and he then survived accusations of corruption to win the 2002 election.

He was elected for a third time in 2007.
 

Blatter said: "I have not finished my mission in football. I need more time.

"I hope that in 2011 the FIFA Congress once more has faith in me, otherwise I'll go back to my village."
 

Blatter has had an often controversial tenure as FIFA President, introducing new laws such as the silver and then golden goals, banning matches being played at high altitude and stopping the World Cup winners from gaining direct entry into the following tournament.

Blatter's new inititiaves will not include a salary cap on teams, but Blatter continued to call on club presidents to curb their spending.

He said FIFA would continue to try to enforce the 6+5 system of six domestic players alongside five non-nationals per team, despite it contravening European Union work rules.
 

Blatter said: "I'm happy that [Silvio] Berlusconi, [Roman] Abramovich, [Massimo] Moratti and all the others have finally stopped wasting money, but there won't be a salary cap.

"We can't intervene in a free-market system, which works with supply and demand.

"The solution is something else: the 6+5 system. It would develop players, teams would spend less and it would help national teams."