<p>A new election triumph in the midst of a corruption scandal established FIFA president Sepp Blatter as the politician who can come through any storm.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Unapologetically divisive, Blatter has had to deal with scandal virtually since his first day in office.<br /><br />And Blatter knows that he still has a long way to go to reach the aim he outlined on Friday of getting FIFA in a safe port "where the boats will stop rocking."<br /><br />"He sees it all like a marathon. And he is one of the most determined men you will meet," said one FIFA executive member about the 79-year-old Swiss official.<br /><br />Blatter, who has been at FIFA for 40 years, 17 as its president, went into the vote revered by some as the beautiful game's 'Jesus' and scorned by others as a rogue clinging to power.<br /><br />The arrest on Wednesday of seven FIFA officials wanted by US authorities for accepting tens of millions of dollars of bribes seemed like a hammer blow to the veteran sports baron.<br /><br />But he came through allegations about 'brown envelopes' handed out before his first election in 1998 and the collapse of the ISL sports marketing empire.<br /><br />This week, Blatter's power base in Africa and Asia remained firm. Blatter said people around the world unfairly held him "ultimately responsible" for everything that goes on in football and a fifth term was won.<br /><br />Blatter believes, however, that his jealous rivals no longer apply the notion of fair play in their backroom battles with him. He told the Congress he had a "question" about the timing of the arrests, two days before the election.<br /><br /> "In my 40 years at FIFA I have learned to live with hostility and resentment," he said recently. "However as the German language proverb puts it: sympathy is free, but envy must be earned."<br /><br />Blatter is in 70th place on the Forbes list of the world's most powerful people -- the only sports leader in the group jostling behind the likes of Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama.<br /><br />The former amateur footballer -- an old fashioned striker -- joined FIFA in 1975 from a position marketing Swiss watches.<br /><br />He became secretary general in 1981 and was elected to the top job in 1998 after another controversial president, Brazilian Joao Havelange, finally ended his 24-year reign.<br />Blatter, who also worked as a public relations official and general secretary of the Swiss ice hockey federation, claims credit for building FIFA's financial muscle -- $1.5 billion in cash reserves.<br /><br />When he joined FIFA it was in a small Zurich building with about 10 staff. One story says that it was Blatter who went to the bank to get a loan when they could not be paid.<br /><br /> But FIFA made about $5.7 billion (5.3 billion euros) in the four years between the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and now has about 1,400 staff.<br /><br />The workaholic Blatter says his main achievement has been to make football "universal" -- the first World Cups in Asia (South Korea and Japan in 2002 although the decision was taken before he became president) and Africa (2010) came in his tenure.<br /><br />Hundreds of millions of dollars are given to national federations and in development grants.<br /><br />But since the day he took office, accusations of skulduggery have never been far away from FIFA. <br /><br />In recent months, he has been fighting allegations about the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.<br /><br />Blatter also told UEFA, the European confederation in 2011 that if elected then it would be his last term.<br /><br />But the FIFA president has never been implicated in wrongdoing and he has always shrugged off controversy -- apart from one episode in 2006 when he tried to stop a book on FIFA being published in Switzerland.<br />AFP</p>
<p>A new election triumph in the midst of a corruption scandal established FIFA president Sepp Blatter as the politician who can come through any storm.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Unapologetically divisive, Blatter has had to deal with scandal virtually since his first day in office.<br /><br />And Blatter knows that he still has a long way to go to reach the aim he outlined on Friday of getting FIFA in a safe port "where the boats will stop rocking."<br /><br />"He sees it all like a marathon. And he is one of the most determined men you will meet," said one FIFA executive member about the 79-year-old Swiss official.<br /><br />Blatter, who has been at FIFA for 40 years, 17 as its president, went into the vote revered by some as the beautiful game's 'Jesus' and scorned by others as a rogue clinging to power.<br /><br />The arrest on Wednesday of seven FIFA officials wanted by US authorities for accepting tens of millions of dollars of bribes seemed like a hammer blow to the veteran sports baron.<br /><br />But he came through allegations about 'brown envelopes' handed out before his first election in 1998 and the collapse of the ISL sports marketing empire.<br /><br />This week, Blatter's power base in Africa and Asia remained firm. Blatter said people around the world unfairly held him "ultimately responsible" for everything that goes on in football and a fifth term was won.<br /><br />Blatter believes, however, that his jealous rivals no longer apply the notion of fair play in their backroom battles with him. He told the Congress he had a "question" about the timing of the arrests, two days before the election.<br /><br /> "In my 40 years at FIFA I have learned to live with hostility and resentment," he said recently. "However as the German language proverb puts it: sympathy is free, but envy must be earned."<br /><br />Blatter is in 70th place on the Forbes list of the world's most powerful people -- the only sports leader in the group jostling behind the likes of Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama.<br /><br />The former amateur footballer -- an old fashioned striker -- joined FIFA in 1975 from a position marketing Swiss watches.<br /><br />He became secretary general in 1981 and was elected to the top job in 1998 after another controversial president, Brazilian Joao Havelange, finally ended his 24-year reign.<br />Blatter, who also worked as a public relations official and general secretary of the Swiss ice hockey federation, claims credit for building FIFA's financial muscle -- $1.5 billion in cash reserves.<br /><br />When he joined FIFA it was in a small Zurich building with about 10 staff. One story says that it was Blatter who went to the bank to get a loan when they could not be paid.<br /><br /> But FIFA made about $5.7 billion (5.3 billion euros) in the four years between the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and now has about 1,400 staff.<br /><br />The workaholic Blatter says his main achievement has been to make football "universal" -- the first World Cups in Asia (South Korea and Japan in 2002 although the decision was taken before he became president) and Africa (2010) came in his tenure.<br /><br />Hundreds of millions of dollars are given to national federations and in development grants.<br /><br />But since the day he took office, accusations of skulduggery have never been far away from FIFA. <br /><br />In recent months, he has been fighting allegations about the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.<br /><br />Blatter also told UEFA, the European confederation in 2011 that if elected then it would be his last term.<br /><br />But the FIFA president has never been implicated in wrongdoing and he has always shrugged off controversy -- apart from one episode in 2006 when he tried to stop a book on FIFA being published in Switzerland.<br />AFP</p>