Sepp Blatter, Newly Re-Elected, Resigns From FIFA

Just days after Sepp Blatter’s re-election, he announced that he will be resigning from FIFA following another election process.

Sepp Blatter Resigns From FIFA

Sepp Blatter has been the punchline of quite a few jokes over the last few days. Yet the overseer of what many consider to be the most corrupt sports organization in the world walked away from last week’s arrests unscathed, securing his fifth term as FIFA president after opposing candidate Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan withdrew.

However, amidst last week’s scandal, where 14 individuals were arrested for allegedly taking over $150 million in bribes, and reports that Blatter’s assistant Jerome Valcke was allegedly the middle man for some of the bribes — something FIFA vehemently denies — the president decided to step down from his position.

“I cherish FIFA more than anything and I want to do only what is best for FIFA and for football,” Blatter stated at today’s press conference in Zurich. “I felt compelled to stand for re-election, as I believed that this was the best thing for the organization. That election is over but FIFA’s challenges are not. FIFA needs a profound overhaul.”

“While I have a mandate from the membership of FIFA, I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of football… Therefore, I have decided to lay down my mandate at an extraordinary elective Congress. I will continue to exercise my functions as FIFA President until that election.”

Afterwards, he asked for FIFA to re-congregate before the next scheduled meeting — which is not until May 13, 2016 — so they could elect a new president without further delay. Domenico Scala told ESPN that a new election could be held anywhere between December 2015 and March 2016, leaving Blatter in power until then.

He would go on to talk about the indictments and FIFA’s corruption, which he blames on the Executive Committee’s representatives and the organization’s lack of checks and balances. “We need deep-rooted structural change. The size of the Executive Committee must be reduced and its members should be elected through the FIFA Congress.” On top of this, he believes that these “integrity checks” need to be done through FIFA and that each representative, like the president, should have term limits.

“I have fought for these changes before and, as everyone knows, my efforts have been blocked,” Blatter added. “This time, I will succeed.”

It is important to note that he was not implicated in any of the corruption charges brought on by the FBI. But many speculated on Blatter’s involvement, especially with the selection process of Qatar as a host site in 2022.