UPDATE: June 2, 2015, 1:14 PM EDT
ZURICH (AP) — FIFA President Sepp Blatter will resign from soccer’s governing body amid a widening corruption scandal and has promised 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. “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.
Three days earlier, Blatter was defiant and feisty in the same room when fending off questions about FIFA’sbattered reputation and the chance U.S. federal agencies could seek his arrest.
Blatter said he reached the decision after he had “thoroughly considered my presidency and … the last 40 years in my life.”
Blatter joined FIFA in 1975 as technical director for development projects, was promoted to general secretary in 1981 and spent 17 years as right-hand man to Joao Havelange of Brazil before being elected to lead world soccer.
The new election will be overseen by Domenico Scala, chairman of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee.
Scala gave a statement immediately after Blatter in which he praised a decision that was “difficult and courageous in the current circumstances.”
“This is the most responsible way to ensure an orderly transition,” Scala said.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
And John Oliver is doing his happy dance.
What the world deserves are people with honor and integrity. The exact type of people Blatter seems to have shunned. Any bets he goes to prison?
He’s gotten his money already, and now that the gravy train is gonna get stopped, he has no reason to hang around and work for ‘nothing’. Assuming he stays out of jail at all.
His blatter runneth over…
-or-
Blatter up…
Two things prompted the quick turnaround from re-election only 4 days ago to resignation.
The European soccer body began talking revolt - pulling out of the Russia & Qatar World cups, and inviting select South American countries to join them in a separate world championship. Since that’s where most of the money is, it would have killed the World Cup.
Just today “smoking gun” evidence of bribery came out. A letter from the South African Football association to FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke discussing a $10 million (US) payment that is widely understood to be a bribe that helped South Africa get the Cup a few years ago.