[ti:FIFA Re-Elect Blatter Despite Corruption Scandal] [ar:Anne Ball] [al:In the News] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]Sepp Blatter won a fifth term as FIFA president, [00:04.69]while people around the world called for him to resign. [00:09.88]The soccer organization has been rocked this week [00:14.13]by arrests and corruption charges. [00:17.51]The 65th FIFA annual congress took place in Zurich, Switzerland. [00:24.74]It is the same city where U.S. and Swiss authorities [00:30.27]arrested senior FIFA officials at their luxury hotel two days ago. [00:36.99]The voting went beyond the first round [00:40.64]before Mr. Blatter's only opponent, [00:44.27]Prince Ali bin al Hussein of Jordan, [00:48.35]gave up and said Mr. Blatter had won. [00:52.54]The U.S. and European organizations backed Prince Ali [00:58.21]and had called for change at the top of FIFA. [01:03.15]The 79-year-old Mr. Blatter has been the leader of FIFA since 1998. [01:11.14]Several current vice-presidents under Mr. Blatter [01:15.33]are among the 14 officials charged with corruption. [01:21.02]The U.S. government says the crimes date back 24 years. [01:28.08]Mr. Blatter says he did not do anything wrong, [01:32.52]and he has not been charged with any crimes. [01:36.65]After winning the vote, Mr. Blatter said, [01:40.94]"I am not perfect, nobody is perfect." [01:45.37]He added that he "takes the responsibility to bring back FIFA." [01:51.52]In Berlin before the vote, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron [01:57.69]called for Mr. Blatter to step down, [02:01.48]saying "the sooner that happens the better." [02:05.62]Mr. Cameron said, "you cannot have accusations of corruption [02:11.50]at this level and on this scale in this organization [02:17.08]and pretend that the person currently leading it [02:22.22]is the right person to take it forward." [02:25.85]Two major European football associations [02:30.04]also had called on Mr. Blatter to resign before Friday's election. [02:36.87]But he refused to do so. [02:40.50]Instead, Mr. Blatter called for unity among the FIFA members [02:46.23]and he promised to work to overcome the group's problems if he is re-elected. [02:53.60]Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the U.S. corruption case. [03:00.03]In televised comments he said that the case is an attempt [03:05.50]by the U.S. to spread its legal control to other countries. [03:12.68]American law says that if some part of the crime [03:17.71]took place in the United States, [03:21.04]then U.S. officials can arrest foreign citizens involved in those crimes. [03:28.51]Mr. Putin also said it was an "obvious attempt" by the U.S. [03:34.55]to prevent Mr. Blatter's reelection as FIFA president. [03:39.57]Russia supports Mr. Blatter as head of FIFA. [03:44.11]The U.S. Justice Department charged 14 people with racketeering, [03:50.28]wire fraud and money laundering, among other offenses. [03:56.70]All of these crimes, officials say go back to 1991. [04:03.40]The defendants are alleged to have paid [04:09.23]well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks. [04:16.15]They made those payments so they could get media [04:20.73]and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments. [04:26.06]In addition to the U.S. case, Swiss authorities [04:30.85]are conducting a separate investigation. [04:34.43]They are looking into charges connected to the awarding [04:39.06]of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and 2022 World Cup to Qatar. [04:47.73]Germany's Justice Minister Heiko Maas [04:51.67]spoke to the German daily Bild on Friday. [04:55.75]He said those World Cup decisions can't stand [05:00.14]if it turns out that votes were bought. [05:04.07]Qatar said its bid for the World Cup was done with "integrity." [05:11.29]Britain's Serious Fraud Office said Friday [05:15.62]it is examining information about possible corruption at FIFA. [05:21.55]But it has not begun a formal criminal investigation. [05:27.24]The United Nations is reviewing its partnerships [05:31.27]with FIFA following the corruption reports, [05:34.76]a U.N. spokesman said Thursday. [05:38.09]Meanwhile, business sponsors are saying [05:42.72]they might pull their support of the soccer organization. [05:46.66]The credit card company Visa [05:50.00]issued a statement expressing "profound" disappointment. [05:54.89]Without reforms, Visa said, [05:57.87]the company would look at its sponsorship of FIFA. [06:02.10]Coca-Cola said it has repeatedly expressed concerns about the allegations. [06:09.44]It said it expects FIFA to thoroughly examine the issues. [06:15.26]Adidas called on the soccer organization [06:18.54]to "follow transparent compliance standards in everything they do." [06:25.57]Budweiser and McDonald's also are reconsidering their sponsorships. [06:31.44]I'm Anne Ball. [06:33.69]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51VOA.COM.