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Blatter to seek FIFA re-election 'if members ask'

Sepp Blatter could use June 10's annual FIFA congress to seek re-election © Getty Images

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Sepp Blatter has confirmed he will seek re-election as FIFA president in May 2015 if the member federations ask him - even though he would be 79 at the start of a potential fifth term.

Just to confirm what you may have read elsewhere re. 2015. If the member associations asked me to stand again, I would not say no.

— Joseph S Blatter (@SeppBlatter) February 7, 2014

In an interview given to Swiss state broadcaster RTS that was shown on Friday, Blatter outlined what it would take for him to stand again.

"I'm not announcing now that I'm going to be a candidate, but if the member associations asked me to be a candidate, I would not say no," said Blatter, who insists his health is good.

UEFA president Michel Platini is widely predicted to be considering candidacy, though has refused to commit before this summer's World Cup. Blatter could use FIFA's annual congress among the 209 member countries on June 10 in Sao Paulo ahead of the opening match of the World Cup to pre-empt any move from Platini.

Blatter received acclamation from FIFA's congress in Johannesburg four years ago to seek a fourth four-year term the following year. He then pledged at a UEFA congress chaired by Platini in 2011 that he would not seek a fifth term.

"If I am in health, and actually I am in good health, I don't see why now I should think to stop work," said Blatter.

Blatter was elected FIFA president in 1998 and is in his 39th year working for world football's governing body.

Jerome Champagne, a former aide of Blatter, declared last month he would seek the FIFA presidency, though intimated he would not go through with his campaign were Blatter to stand again.

Blatter stood alone for the presidency in 2011 after Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar withdrew his candidacy days before polling having been implicated in trying to bribe voters from the Caribbean.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd