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
United Passions under the reign of president João Havelange. Havelange is voted into power using expensive trips and various modern lobbying tactics. Havelange sees FIFA as an organization in financial disarray, and works to find various sponsors to finance its operation. Throughout his tenure as the president of FIFA, he has a right hand man, Sepp Blatter, who impresses Havelange with his unrelenting work. Eventually, Blatter becomes the next president of FIFA. Corruption within FIFA builds up over the years from Havelange's expansion efforts. As president of FIFA, Blatter is tasked to clean this up, for which he is seen as a