Sepp Blatter: how Fifa 'tyrant' won football's loyalty

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Embattled Fifa president Sepp Blatter has been described this week as an "odious little toad", a "tyrant" and "slippier than an eel taking a bath in a tub of Swarfega", but that did not stop him from winning an unprecedented fifth term as president of Fifa.

In a week when seven top Fifa officials were arrested on corruption charges and the organisation’s headquarters were raided as part of a criminal investigation into World Cup votes, Sepp Blatter saw off the challenge of Jordanian rival Prince Ali bin al-Hussein.

After 17 years in charge, during which time the reputation of football's governing body has sunk lower and lower, how does he retain so much support? The answer lies in the game's global appeal, Fifa's structure and the judicious use of funding.

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One member one vote

Fifa has 209 members and each has a single vote at the organisation's congress. That means that World Cup holders Germany have no more power than Djibouti and the combined weight of Argentina and Brazil is less than that of the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands and American Samoa, whose populations would barely fill the Maracana.

Although votes in the presidential election are cast independently, nations do tend to vote in regional blocs. But even then football's traditional powerhouses in Europe and South America are unable to control football's giant game of Risk.

Uefa has 53 members, one fewer than the Africa's CAF. South America's Conmebol has only ten votes, one fewer than Oceania.

Getting Africa and Asia (which has 46 votes) onside has served Blatter well.

Nascimento Lopes, the president of Guinea-Bissau's FA, said before the election that voting against Sepp Blatter would be "blasphemy", reports Nigeria's Daily Post.

"People are always trying to knock Blatter," he said. "Africa will vote for Mr Blatter and Blatter will win and I will follow that... It’s not all about the major European football countries."

Buying loyalty?

The support of nations outside the footballing elite has either been earned or bought, depending on your opinion.

Blatter "has ensured that Fifa gives enough money and encouragement to guarantee the loyalty of the various confederations that vote for the new president every four years," says The Guardian. "The Confederation of African Football (Caf), for example, has traditionally voted for the Swiss because it believes he alone cares about the continent."

Julio Chiluba of the Zambian FA explained that Fifa funding under Blatter had allowed the construction of "administrative blocks, technical centres, accommodation" for football. "They are very costly. We are very grateful to Fifa for the benefits we have reaped during his tenure of office," he said.

Sports journalist Kennedy Gondwe told the Guardian. "Regardless what one wants to say about Sepp Blatter – love him or loathe him – there are things he's done in Africa that are quite outstanding."

It is a similar story elsewhere in the world. In Samoa all league matches are played on pitches at the JS Blatter Football Complex in the capital Apia, which was opened in July 2001 thanks to funding from Fifa's Goal programme, initiated by Blatter in 1999.

Not far from Samoa on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, another Fifa-funded soccer centre, opened in 2004, has by far the best-kept sports pitches and facilities in the country, where the national sport is rugby.

Whether such projects are regarded as a true reflection of Fifa's aim of bringing football to the world, or a cynical exercise in vote-buying is open to debate, but those who have benefited from Fifa's largesse under Blatter stand by him.

But who really benefits?

Blatter's regime has led to plenty of investment, but it is fair to assume that not all of it has gone to the deserving.

"This money has prompted many a genuine football revolution in the developing world." says The Independent. "But like all aid money, much of it has been badly audited and some of it, undoubtedly, purloined. For President Blatter, it hardly matters. Both these outcomes buy loyalty."

All 209 Fifa member nations received an equal share of the income from the Brazil World Cup, says the paper, around £750,000. As Blatter made clear during his speech to the Fifa congress on Friday he cannot be expected to control the actions of individuals within member associations – so what happens to that money is, presumably, up to them.