61st FIFA Congress that I love to be dragged more and more in the mud because of competition between two individuals. The game itself and the people who love it around the world must come first." The incumbent President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter ran for a fourth consecutive term, having been elected in 1998, and reelected in 2002 and 2007. On 13 May Blatter warned that FIFA would be plunged into "a black hole" if Bin Hammam won the election. Of the vote Blatter said that "The ballot could lead to a seismic shift with irreversible damage...Quite simply, the survival of FIFA is
51st FIFA Congress and president of the European football governing body UEFA Lennart Johansson considered the favourite to win. Johansson's rival was the Swiss-German football executive Joseph "Sepp" Blatter who had previously been an executive at the Swiss watch manufactures Longines and had served as the general secretary of FIFA since 1981. The first round of voting in the election did not produce a clear victor, with Blatter receiving 111 votes to Johansson's 80, but Johansson conceded victory. 51st FIFA Congress The 51st FIFA Congress was held between 6 and 8 June 1998, at the Equinox congress hall in Paris, France, just before