Embattled FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been re-elected as leader of the governing body at its global congress in Zurich, as a corruption scandal engulfs the game.

Blatter secured 133 votes which fell short of the two-third majority required to get him re-elected, prompting a second round of voting.

However,  his challenger Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who won 73 votes in the first round, withdrew from the race after he conceded defeat.

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“I thank you, you have accepted me for the next four years,” a jubilant Blatter said in his victory speech.

“I will be in command of this boat of FIFA. We will bring it back off shore.”

Earlier, in his opening address to the FIFA Congress in Zurich, Blatter promised transparency and urged the membership to remain unified.

“Today, I am appealing to unity and team spirit so we can move forward together,” he said.

“It may not always be easy but we are here together today to tackle the problems that have been created.

“We are we are here to solve them.”

Blatter, who has been heavily criticised for not doing enough to combat corruption in FIFA, was challenged by the Jordanian Prince for the most powerful job in soccer.

“I think the important point today is to move ahead and the important point is transparency,” Blatter said.

“The important point is where does FIFA stand in the world.

“It is the fight against corruption, against match fixing, racism and discrimination which we still have and this hurts.

“Let’s show to the world we are able to run our institution which is FIFA. We can do it together.”

Europe, which accounts for all but three of the countries ever to make it to a World Cup’s final match, had been particularly keen to banish the 79-year-old Swiss.

But Asian, African and Latin American states indicated earlier they would support the incumbent president.

Each of the 209 countries in FIFA have an equal vote.

Swiss police arrested some of the most powerful figures in global football during a raid on a Zurich hotel on Wednesday, announcing a criminal investigation into the awarding of the next two World Cups and plunging the world’s most popular sport into turmoil.

US authorities indicted nine football officials and five sports media and promotions executives on corruption charges involving more than $US150 million in alleged bribes.

The scandal widened on Friday when Britain’s Serious Fraud Office said it was also examining possible corruption at FIFA.

A judge in Argentina ordered the arrest of three businessmen accused of using bribery to obtain soccer media rights, and the Brazilian senate moved to open a formal inquiry into soccer bribery allegations.

FIFA takes in billions of dollars in revenue from television marketing rights and sponsorships, making it one of the wealthiest and most powerful sports bodies in the world.

It has been dogged by corruption scandals for decades, mostly investigating itself and avoiding scrutiny by criminal courts.

“We cannot watch everyone all the time. We have 1.6 billion people directly or indirectly touched by our game,” Blatter said.