FIFA President Sepp Blatter will resign from soccer’s governing body amid a widening corruption scandal and promised Tuesday to call for fresh elections to choose a successor.
The 79-year-old Blatter was re-elected to a fifth term on Friday, two days after a corruption crisis erupted and seven soccer officials were arrested in Zurich ahead of the FIFA congress.
“This mandate does not seem to be supported by everybody in the world of football,” Blatter said Tuesday at a hastily arranged news conference in Zurich. “FIFA needs a profound restructuring.”
Elections are expected to take place sometime between December and March.
“I will continue to exercise my function (until the new election),” said Blatter, who looked strained and serious while reading a statement in French before walking off without taking questions.
The Position
Three days earlier, Blatter was defiant and feisty in the same room when fending off questions about FIFA’s battered reputation and the chance U.S. federal agencies could seek his arrest.
The U.S. Department of Justice indicted 14 men last Wednesday, including the seven arrested in dawn raids on a luxury Zurich hotel.
The Justice Department said Tuesday it would have no comment on Blatter’s announcement. The Swiss attorney general said Blatter was not under investigation in Switzerland, but authorities said last week they have opened a criminal probe into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding votes.
Blatter’s decision to stand down came four days after he defeated sole challenger Prince Ali of Jordan 133-73 in the FIFA presidential election for what would have been another four-year term. He has been in office for 17 years.
