The 51st
FIFA Congress was held between 6 and 8 June 1998, at the Equinox congress hall in
Paris,
France, just before the start of the
1998 FIFA World Cup. It was the last biannual meeting of the international governing body of association football
FIFA, since 1998 the congress has been held on an annual basis.[1] The congress saw the election of
Joseph "Sepp" Blatter as the
8th President of FIFA who succeeded
João Havelange. Havelange had held the presidency since 1974.[2][3]
1998 presidential election
Voting for the presidential election took more than three hours, with the Swedish football administrator and president of the European football governing body
UEFALennart Johansson considered the favourite to win. Johansson's rival was the Swiss-German football executive
Joseph "Sepp" Blatter who had previously been an executive at the Swiss watch manufactures
Longines and had served as the general secretary of FIFA since 1981.[4] The first round of voting in the election did not produce an immediate victor (a two-thirds
supermajority needed to avoid a second round), with Blatter receiving 111 votes to Johansson's 80, but Johansson conceded victory.[2][5][6]