singapore sweep result (Reuters) - FIFA President Sepp Blatter was set to be returned unopposed for another four-year term on Wednesday, but the woes surrounding soccer's governing body deepened with fresh calls for a probe into Qatar being awarded the 2022 World Cup. Germany's call for a re-examination of Qatar's winning of the bidding process for that event was just the latest twist in a corruption scandal that has plunged soccer into its worst crisis and alarmed the game's global sponsors. Only hours before Blatter was due to stand unopposed for president, the head of Germany's soccer federation, Theo Zwanziger, said he did not expect that vote to be delayed or postponed but did call for the probe into Qatar.
There is a considerable degree of suspicion that one cannot simply sweep aside, and I must expect that awarding this World Cup under these conditions needs to be examined anew," he told German television. Swiss Blatter, 75, has run soccer's world governing body since 1998 and led it through a period of unprecedented prosperity on the sale of TV rights and sponsorship. But the game's reputation has been cast under the microscope after a spate of corruption allegations, the suspension of two senior FIFA officials and suggestions Qatar bought the World Cup, which the Gulf state has strenuously denied. INTERNAL CHAOS In another twist, Chuck Blazer -- an American whose whistle-blowing led to the suspension of the two FIFA executives including Blatter's only rival for the presidency Mohamed Bin Hammam -- was sacked on Tuesday from his position on the regional soccer body CONCACAF. An hour later, though, that body for North and Central America and the Caribbean declared the dismissal invalid.
The internal chaos magnified the drama surrounding the FIFA Congress in Zurich, where the English Football Association is leading calls for the presidential vote to be postponed. The only way Blatter will not be given a new term is if the congress proposes and passes a motion to call off the election with the support of 75 percent of voting delegates. That is unlikely to happen. Since Blatter became president, the governing body has grown rich thanks to its ability to generate billions of dollars from television rights to major tournaments as well as sponsorship deals with large corporations.
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