Fifa president Sepp Blatter will not be publishing a manifesto in his bid for re-election, saying on Friday that he wanted to be judged on his 17 years in charge of soccer’s governing body.
“My manifesto is the work I have done inthe last years in Fifa,” he told a news conference after an executive committee meeting.
“I am 40 years in Fifa and I am 17 years as president, this is my manifesto.”Blatter, 79, is bidding for a fifth mandate at the Fifa presidential electionon May 29, having been elected for the first time in 1998 when he succeeded Joao Havelange.
The Swiss faces opposition from Dutch FA president Michael van Praag, former Portugal forward Luis Figo and Prince AliBin Al-Hussein of Jordan, who is a member of Fifa’s executive committee.
Blatter, who has backtracked on an earlier declaration that his current mandate would be his last, has declined to take part in a televised debate with the other three candidates, who have all agreed to participate.
“I am the Fifa president until May 29, until the last item on the Congress agenda which is the election of the president,” he said.“I have been asked by national associations in all six confederations to be a candidate.
“I am not campaigning, I am doing my job as Fifa president and I will do it until the last day of my mandate given to me in 2011.”The president is chosen by the Fifa’s 209 member associations, who each hold one vote.
