ZURICH (AP) — Sepp Blatter says he will ask FIFA’s 209 member countries for their backing to seek a fifth term as president.

Giving his clearest indication yet of an expected candidacy, Blatter says: “Yes, I would like to do it.”

Blatter, who has led FIFA since 1998, will be 79 when the election is held next May. He said in 2011 that his current four-year term would be his last, but has dropped repeated hints he would run again.

Blatter said at the Sochi Olympics he would not say no if FIFA members asked him to be a candidate when they meet on June 11 in Sao Paulo.

Speaking on Thursday at the opening of a Swiss publisher’s headquarters in Zurich, Blatter says “my mandate is almost over but my mission is not finished.”

UEFA President Michel Platini has said he will decide this year whether to be a candidate.

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