African Soccer Official: Continent Will Vote To Re-Elect FIFA's Blatter

Confederation of African Football President Issa Hayatou today said that "his entire continent will back Sepp Blatter for re-election" as FIFA President next month. Hayatou, speaking at the opening of CAF's congress in Cairo, said that all 54 member countries would vote for Blatter. Africa is a "strong base of support for Blatter and has traditionally voted as a block for him" (AP, 4/7).

Meanwhile, FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein believes the "scandal-hit organization will struggle to replace sponsors and be damaged financially" if Blatter remains in charge. Ali said, "If drastic action is not taken urgently to restore the image of our governing body, we can expect revenues to reduce and, in turn, monies available to national associations to also go down" (AP, 4/6).