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Sepp Blatter was re-elected FIFA president on Wednesday after a major bribery scandal left him as the only candidate to deal with a sport reeling from a wave of corruption allegations. Blatter, a 75-year-old Swiss executive who has been in office since 1998, was handed a final four-year term as head of soccer’s governing body in a vote at FIFA’s congress.

FIFA's ethics committee cleared president Sepp Blatter of any wrongdoing as two of soccer's most senior officials were suspended on Sunday in the worst corruption scandal to blight the sport's governing body.

Russia and Qatar will host soccer's biggest tournament, the FIFA World Cup, for the first time in 2018 and 2022 respectively. Russia headed off 1966 host England and joint presentations from Spain-Portugal and Holland-Belgium in Thursday's vote at FIFA headquarters in Switzerland.

The five countries jostling for the right to host the 2022 World Cup have made their final pitch to Fifa ahead of the Thursday's decisive vote in Zurich.

Three senior Fifa officials who will vote on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids took bribes in the 1990s, the BBC's Panorama alleges.