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
2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids to work against them in their bid. Han Seung-joo, a former South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs, was appointed as the Chairman of the Bidding Committee in August 2009. He met with FIFA President Sepp Blatter in Zürich, Switzerland. In January 2010, President Lee Myung-bak visited the headquarters of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland to meet Sepp Blatter in support of the South Korean bid. Although South Korea did not have an 80,000 capacity stadium, it planned to upgrade an existing venue to meet that capacity. There are three grounds which can seat over 60,000 people—Seoul Olympic Stadium, Seoul World Cup