FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced his intentions to step down from his post in a hastily-called news conference at the organization’s headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland on Tuesday, just five days after winning a fifth term in an election victory over the lone challenger, Prince Ali bin Hussein.
Following last week's raft of indictments and arrests by US and Swiss authorities targeting high-ranking world soccer and FIFA officials, Blatter stated his plan to pass his leadership duties to a new candidate with the goal of reforming the governing body. He will remain in office until a successor is elected.
“I have been reflecting deeply about my presidency and about the 40 years in which my life has been inextricably bound to FIFA and the great sport of football,” Blatter said. “I cherish FIFA more than anything and I want to do only what is best for FIFA and for football. 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,” he added. “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.”
Blatter suggested a number of reforms in his statement, including that the powerful Executive Committee be reshaped, and he pointed to Dominico Scala, the Independent Chairman of FIFA’s Audit and Compliance Committee, as the point person to kickstart the administrative overhauls.
FIFA’s next gathering is scheduled for May 2016 in Mexico City, but Blatter said that his replacement must be named sooner. Scala later indicated that an election would be held sometime between December 2015 and March 2016, in accordance with the organization’s bylaws.
“It is my deep care for FIFA and its interests, which I hold very dear, that has led me to take this decision,” Blatter said. “I would like to thank those who have always supported me in a constructive and loyal manner as president of FIFA and who have done so much for the game that we all love. What matters to me more than anything is that when all of this is over, football is the winner.”
