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By Matthew Kenyon*
If you read most of the world's media, Sepp Blatter's ability to hang on to power at Fifa is nothing short of miraculous.
[caption id="attachment_18469" align="alignleft" width="660"] Sepp Blatter has previously been able to count on African delegates' votes[/caption] After years of negative headlines, the frenzy has reached fever pitch in the wake of the US allegations of corruption at the highest level in football - even though Mr Blatter himself has not been implicated. And running through all this coverage is a theme - bemusement that much of the football world keeps voting for him. Nowhere is Sepp Blatter's support stronger than across Asia and Africa. So why did most of the representatives from those two continents vote for him again? Here's about as succinct an answer as you're going to get - from Amaju Pinnick, newly elected president of the Nigerian Football Federation, talking to the BBC on Thursday: "Blatter feels Africa, he sees Africa and he has imparted so much - a lot of developmental programmes. "Without Blatter we wouldn't enjoy all the benefits we enjoy today from Fifa. What Blatter pushes is equity, fairness and equality among the nations. We don't want to experiment." Development? Benefits? Equity? We're talking about two things really - the first is concrete investment, often literally so. The second is respect. If you go to Fifa's website, search for the "development globe". You'll get a jazzy tool which lets you spin the world around, with clickable symbols corresponding to every little project Fifa has carried out in recent years - all of them under Sepp Blatter. I clicked at random on Chad - not one of Africa's footballing powerhouses. [caption id="attachment_18471" align="alignright" width="624"] Sepp Blatter (here with the Zambian team) "feels Africa", said one delegate[/caption] Since 2011, according to Fifa, Chad has benefited from 26 projects undertaken by the world governing body. We're talking about artificial pitches, a technical centre, a new HQ for the federation - but also education seminars on marketing, refereeing, grassroots football and so on. The list is long. That pattern is repeated across Africa and around the world. And it has been Mr Blatter who has pushed the programme. He, both as Secretary General and then as Fifa president, helped encourage the boom in football - and raked in billions of dollars from media and marketing as a result. And it has been Mr Blatter who has made sure significant amounts of that cash has been spent in pretty much every football nation that can spend it. That earns him a huge amount of support. Respect is harder to quantify, but is just as valuable when it comes to earning votes. Sepp Blatter has been in charge as the game has become truly global. Fifa's historical Eurocentrism (stronger words than that have been used) has been swept away - and Mr Blatter has been the driving force.