Blatter "to stand down in 2015"
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FIFA President Sepp Blatter said his next term will be his last if he is re-elected in June.
Blatter is running for his fourth term but is facing the challenge of Qatar's Mohamed bin Hamman in the election to be held in Zurich, Switzerland.
"You know very well that I will aspire to another four years, those will be the last four years I aspire to," Blatter said yesterday at the UEFA Congress.
Blatter has been running football's world governing body since 1998 and is facing his first challenge since Issa Hayatou took him on in 2002.
Bin Hammam, the Asian Football Confederation president, is also attending the UEFA Congress to lobby European federation presidents for their vote on June 1 in Zurich.
"We are in extra time," said Blatter, referring to the time remaining before the election. "Let's wait and see what the outcome will be."
While Bin Hammam has promised greater transparency if he ends his rival's 13-year reign, Blatter told the UEFA delegates that football's main challenges in the coming years will be to preserve the identity of clubs and to fight against illegal betting and doping.
"Football is corrupted by all little devils which exist in the world," the 75-year-old Blatter said. "Don't forget that football is a game and that when one is playing, he always tries to cheat a little bit. Together we have the task of bringing together the adventure we have started. We want to ensure a better future for our youth."
UEFA members make up more than one quarter of the maximum 208 FIFA voters that Blatter and bin Hammam will attempt to woo before the June 1 election.
The winner needs a two-thirds majority of valid votes cast in the first ballot, or a majority in the second. FIFA has set an April 1 deadline for other candidates to be nominated by a single member federation.
The Qatari challenger meanwhile hinted at his strategic options when asked by reporters if he might address UEFA boss Michel Platini's own ambitions to be FIFA president in 2015 by agreeing to serve just a single four-year term in football's most powerful job.
"I am not going to lie to you and say that I am not going to talk to Michel about possible cooperation in the future, this has to be put frankly," bin Hammam said.
"I'm not telling you I am not going to do it, but let's wait and see."
Bin Hammam said he did not regret campaigning for Blatter's last two election victories but "now things are different" for the 75-year-old Swiss official, who joined FIFA 36 years ago.
"When Mr. Blatter first stood for election in 1998 he asked for two mandates, for eight years, which is very well recorded," said bin Hammam.
"There's no guarantee that if Blatter wins another term it will be his last four years."
