He was simply the best man for the job, Bermuda's soccer chiefs declared after helping under-fire FIFA president Sepp Blatter sweep to a stunning victory in the election for the head of soccer's governing body.

Amid allegations of bribery, skulduggery and general underhandedness, Blatter, accused of plunging FIFA into financial crisis, defeated Cameroon's Issa Hayatou by 139 votes to 56 in a secret ballot of its national associations in South Korea's capital Seoul yesterday, two days before the start of the World Cup finals.

The no-holds-barred election campaign was dominated by allegations of corruption and mismanagement levelled against Blatter, some of them from members of his own executive committee.

With 197 votes cast and two spoilt ballot papers, Blatter overcame serious allegations of mismanagement to win by a huge majority of 83 votes - far more than when he first won election to world soccer's top job in 1998.

On that occasion, he defeated Sweden's Lennart Johansson, president of European soccer's governing body UEFA, by 111-80 votes. This time he crushed a rival who had confidently predicted he had the support of around 100 delegates before the vote.

Which way the BFA cast its vote was no surprise, with president Larry Mussenden following the direction taken by regional body CONCACAF to back Blatter.

However, BFA General Secretary David Sabir denied it had been a forgone conclusion.

Speaking to the Royal Gazette from Korea late last night Bermuda time, Sabir said the decision had been taken after seeing whether, firstly, the allegations against Blatter could be substantiated and, secondly, whether his rival was capable of doing a better job.

"We sat down prior to the extraordinary congress and said we would base our decision on a few things," said Sabir, who along with Mussenden was accompanied to the Far East by BFA second Vice President Robert Calderon. "One, what has the president done in accordance with his mandate established four years ago, and has he reasonably accomplished those things? Two, the group that was bringing to light in the media all of the controversy, where they able to bring substantive evidence against the president?

"That's what we were looking for. We needed to be convinced that what the president was doing was a deviation away from the development of the sport. None of that was presented."

Sabir said regardless of CONCACAF's stance the BFA was sure Blatter was the only man to lead FIFA.

"I think it is clear that the collective decision by CONCACAF was taken to support the president, Blatter, no question. But again everybody in there was convinced that the allegations were unfounded," he said.

"We allowed ourselves, because we think we are reasonably intelligent individuals, (the opportunity) to see if those allegations could be proven, and they weren't.

"We were satisfied prior (to the meeting) and it reaffirmed our conviction during the congress. It reaffirmed what we had believed all that time."

Sabir was asked if the allegations had been proven would the BFA have voted against CONCACAF and federation leader Jack Warner's directive.

"Let's put it this way," he said. "It was a secret ballot. There was no question of being allowed, you have the right to do anything you want.

"If you are asking whether or not we would have moved away from the collective decision of CONCACAF, well, we won't answer that because it does not make sense, it's hypothetical.

"We are working in real time now. Real time for us is that we came to the congress to support the individual that has done some remarkable things for world football, which includes Bermuda.

"Unless he was unelectable, in other words he could not stand for re-election based on allegations and facts, then the point would have been made clear for us. We could not have selected him anyway, as could none of the other countries within FIFA."

Sabir said Warner also sat on FIFA and "had a more intimate knowledge of what was going on and was able to share that with his confederation members".

"It all boils down to what you believe," he said. "If you believe what was in the newspapers then perhaps you would have been an individual who would have had to have been convinced against his will.

"If you didn't believe what was in the newspaper then you came to listen to facts. The facts were that the FIFA finances were presented from KPMG. They were supported by the members of the finance committee as being proper. There were no allegations of misdoing presented to the congress by those who were against the president, and as such, if this was a politically motivated, strategic plan to oust the president it was poorly done and it failed, as evidenced by the overwhelming majority of the people who voted for him."

Sabir said the BFA was never offered incentives to vote one way or the other but alleged that such goings on had been rife during the days leading up to the vote.

"Nowhere in this entire process, from when both candidates were introduced, have Bermuda delegates, Bermuda as an association, come under any pressure," he said. "Never were we as a Bermuda delegation confronted with, enticed, offered bribes, like what was going on all around this place. We were never party to that."

Sabir said he had witnessed some "incredible" attempts to sway members associations to vote in favour of Hayatou.

"It was unbelievable," he said without naming those involved or describing what had been offered to them.

"We voted truthfully without compromise. We were fortunate," he said, adding he could tell some "unbelievable" tales.

Sabir also alleged that Hayatou's supporters had played the race card in a bid to get him elected. Predominantly black associations were courted because of colour of the African's skin.

"The issues and what he brought to the table were starting to become secondary," he said. "It was almost like a desperate campaign. I think the results prove there was nothing substantive brought to the table by that side."

Sabir said the BFA was perfectly at ease with the direction FIFA was going in.

"The reason we have to be happy is that the president in '98 came with a platform to make the game better and to take it to the world," he said.

"His whole mission was to include those smaller, less fortunate nations that could not cope, didn't have the backing or finances of Europe and he decided that in order for the game to grow worldwide everybody needed support.

"If you talk about whether that was good or bad for football, it was good. Are we happy? Of course. We have to be happy because there have been more courses, there have been more technical assistance programmes, financial assistance programmes and more opportunities for young players to be involved in international football than ever before in the history of FIFA.

"Again the question is: What different things could Mr.Hayatou have brought to the table that the president didn't have in his manifesto except for creating the hysteria that something was untoward."

Sabir said the BFA hoped the matter could now be laid to rest for the good of the game.

"Just as the BFA was confronted with a similar challenge a few years ago, it is in human nature, if you will, to have the most positive outlook," he said. "Only with that positive outlook can you achieve the goals and objectives.

"I think that Mr.Blatter is smart enough to recognise that, as he said in his delivery, that the house of FIFA must be united and he is prepared to do his part.

"I believe that is what he will do and time will tell if he does it."