GENEVA, AP:

For once, a major FIFA election is untainted by claims of vote-buying. There's no need this time.

Sepp Blatter's widely expected re-election on May 29 as president of soccer's world governing body for a fifth term has seldom seemed a real contest. His hold on the top job is so secure that Blatter published no manifesto, declined to debate opponents and rarely engaged with media worldwide.

"I am not campaigning," Blatter said in March at a FIFA news conference he was obliged to attend. "I am now 40 years in FIFA, and I am 17 years as president of FIFA. This is my manifesto."

Three rival candidates entered the race in January: Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, Luis Figo of Portugal, and Michael van Praag of the Netherlands. Van Praag, however, dropped out of the race on Thursday and switched his support to FIFA vice-president Prince Ali.

By withdrawing, Van Praag showed how the task to sway Blatter's rock-solid support looked impossible even before belatedly starting to seek votes.

campaign

"If you really wanted to do this properly, you should have started (campaigning) two years ago," van Praag, the Dutch soccer federation president, said in Vienna in March.

The outcome has looked clear since February 2014 when Blatter dropped his biggest hint that he would run again. He teased he "would not say no" if enough of FIFA's 209 member federations asked him.

They did.

Despite the scandals and allegations often swirling around FIFA, voters worldwide show little or no desire for change at the top.

Familiarity with Blatter has bred content. He was FIFA's top administrator, and therefore, point man to members for 17 years before his controversial first election in 1998.