FIFA president Sepp Blatter has been re-elected as head of football's world governing body after being the only candidate remaining in an election dogged by corruption allegations.

The 75-year-old Swiss earned his fourth term Wednesday after receiving 186 out of the 203 votes cast at the FIFA Congress in Zurich. Blatter's only rival, Asian football confederation president Mohamed bin Hammam, withdrew Sunday amid bribery allegations.

Earlier Wednesday, Blatter vowed to radically reform the way future World Cup host countries are selected. He pledged that all 208 of the group's members would be allowed to pick the sites for the quadrennial matches.

Currently, FIFA's 24-member executive committee selects the winning World Cup host countries, but it has been widely criticized for awarding the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 matches to Qatar.

The FIFA presidential vote took place despite attempts by the English Football Association to force a postponement to allow time to clear up corruption scandals. The English motion lost by an overwhelming margin.