New Zealand Football is disappointed embattled FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been re-elected, the organisation's chief executive says.
Sepp Blatter reacts after his re-election as president of FIFA in Zurich. Photo: AFP
Mr Blatter defeated Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan to secure his tenure as the head of world football's governing body for another four years.
Andy Martin Photo: Supplied
Prince Ali withdrew after Mr Blatter won the first round of voting by 133 votes to 73.
The election took place after nine senior FIFA officials and five others were indicted this week on multimillion dollar corruption charges, brought by the US.
New Zealand Football chief executive Andy Martin, who was in Zurich for the election at the FIFA Congress, said he voted for Prince Ali, and was surprised so few countries did.
Mr Martin said many delegates have rejected Mr Blatter's comment that he has been unable to monitor everyone in FIFA.
He said there was a lot of talk at the congress about how many delegates would be willing to stick their head above sand and vote against the long-serving Swiss official.
"I think, personally, I was very surprised there were still a lot of people in the room who didn't think there was a need to change," he said.
"Given his tenure in the role, and that a lot of problems have happened in that time, it's quite difficult to accept that he wasn't aware or able to do anything to affect the change that's needed today."
He said New Zealand Football would soon hold discussions with Mr Blatter over how to improve transparency at FIFA.
"A lot of what's been talked about is around very strong governance and transparency," he said.
"[We need to make sure] policies and procedures are in place so that if there are any rogue individuals within the organisation, like in any big organisation, there are policies in place that ensure that it gets spotted and dealt with."
Mr Blatter is expected to attend the final matches of FIFA's Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand, which kicks off today.
