Football's international governing body, Fifa, has just re-elected Sepp Blatter as its president for a fourth term. This despite Fifa being immersed in huge allegations of corruption and bribery over the last few weeks.

Anyone who has followed the affairs of Fifa over the years will not be surprised by this. Fifa has been linked with corruption and dodgy deals for as long as anyone can remember. It hides away in  the football powerhouse of Switzerland, enjoying charity status and free from any prying eyes, and has benefited for decades now from a huge income with billions of pounds flowing into its coffers. This money is used in turn to fill the pockets of those who in turn will deliver the right result.

Up until the 70s, Fifa was run by the traditional ranks of aristocratic ‘men in blazers.’ However, in 1974, João Havelange was elected president on a programme of ‘opening up’ football to the rest of the world and of drawing in massive new sponsorship deals. To the Third World footballing bodies, which had been ignored up until then, this was too good to resist and they backed Havelange all the way. He. In turn, ensured that some of the Fifa billion’s came their way.

Behind the deeply loathsome Havelange was his hatchet man Sepp Blatter as general secretary. He knew where all the bodies were buried and had no problem becoming President in 1988.

Since then Blatter has been able to sidestep every scandal to hit Fifa. In 2006 a story broke about the way Fifa’s commercial wing ISL was operated as regards the fraudulent issuing of contracts. Since the stories of bribes amounting to $175 million have continued to circulate. Although several Fifa members and officials have been suspended, Blatter remained untouched.

However, in the build up to this year’s presidential election things have got worse. A whole series of claims about bribes relating to the awarding of future world cups to Russia and Qatar have been made. The irony is that there was always going to be a strong case for awarding world cup tournaments to Russia and to an Arab country. However, both these countries are no stranger to bribery arrangements and would not have had a problem with greasing the required palms. However, people are starting to own up to having seen payments in return for votes. The formerly loyal Binn Hamman decided to stand against Blatter for the presidency and has now conveniently been suspended from Fifa for corruption, thereby removing him as a candidate. More worryingly for Blatter, the Trinidanian representative Jack Warner has also been suspended. He has been up to his eyes in corrupt practices for a very long time and therefore knows rather too much. Feeling betrayed by his former pals, he is now threatening to tell all.  Even the big sponsors are starting to feel a bit worried and have raised concerns about the bad smell surrounding Fifa.

But Blatter craves power above all. He has spent the last few days making a series of deals with all manner of minor F.A.s to ensure that not only would he be re-elected but any attempt to delay the election would be rejected. The English FA tried to delay the election – as usual with them. too little too late – but were shouted down with a series of hostile speech from various delegates. Blatter has it stitched up. The sponsors may try and force Blatter onto his sword to protect their investments but even then he may in turn be able to divert their anger.

Some have expressed the hope that the European body Uefa may be able to do something but this is unlikely. They are a mini-me version of Fifa, who didn’t even notice that the ticket prices for the Champions League final were incredibly high – but then again the Champions (and their rich chums) league is all about making money.