FIFA update: Sepp Blatter steps down as President four days after winning reelection

The thirteen people arrested by the USDoJ today are facing extradition having been accused of taking over $150-million in bribes in the last three decades. FIFA President Sepp Blatter has not been arrested but the prevailing sentiment is that those arrested today will be flipped to get Blatter and possibly other high-ranking FIFA officials. Blatter is regarded as the most influential and most corrupt sports executive in the world. The 2018 (Russia) and 2022 (Qatar) World Cup bids are being investigated by Swiss authorities.

Hard to believe there is any wrongdoing from a group that has a headquarters like SPECTRE.

 

For the first time FIFA will add women's teams to their venerable video game series in the next iteration, FIFA 16, just after the Women's World Cup wraps up in Canada this summer.

 

Posted by Best_Poster_EU

 

Less than a week after winning reelection as President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter has resigned. Enormous news. Looks like the DoJ probably had him dead to rights and he didn't realize it. Holy shit!

http://www.theguardian.com/football...conference-amid-latest-corruption-claims-live

 

Qatar delegates have lashed out at critics claiming that anti-Muslim sentiment and racism from the West are the reason for the current investigation, not the estimated 1,600 migrant (slave) worker death toll, the fact that they bribed FIFA to get the tournament, or that the leagues around the world are unwilling to interrupt their season for a mid-winter World Cup after Qatar promised that wouldn't be necessary.

 

Blatter-
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. 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 organisation. 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 – the fans, the players, the clubs, the people who live, breathe and love football as much as we all do at Fifa. 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. The next ordinary Fifa Congress will take place on 13 May 2016 in Mexico City. This would create unnecessary delay and I will urge the Executive Committee to organise an Extraordinary Congress for the election of my successor at the earliest opportunity. This will need to be done in line with Fifa’s statutes and we must allow enough time for the best candidates to present themselves and to campaign. Since I shall not be a candidate, and am therefore now free from the constraints that elections inevitably impose, I shall be able to focus on driving far-reaching, fundamental reforms that transcend our previous efforts.

For years, we have worked hard to put in place administrative reforms, but it is plain to me that while these must continue, they are not enough. The Executive Committee includes representatives of confederations over whom we have no control, but for whose actions Fifa is held responsible. 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. The integrity checks for all Executive Committee members must be organised centrally through Fifa and not through the confederations. We need term limits not only for the president but for all members of the Executive Committee. I have fought for these changes before and, as everyone knows, my efforts have been blocked.

This time, I will succeed. I cannot do this alone. I have asked Domenico Scala to oversee the introduction and implementation of these and other measures. Mr Scala is the Independent Chairman of our Audit and Compliance Committee elected by the Fifa Congress. He is also the Chairman of the ad hoc Electoral Committee and, as such, he will oversee the election of my successor. Mr Scala enjoys the confidence of a wide range of constituents within and outside of Fifa and has all the knowledge and experience necessary to help tackle these major reforms. It is my deep care for Fifa and its interests, which I hold very dear, that has led me to take this decision. 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.

 

Fifa’s independent ethics committee says it will continue to look at any complaints made against Fifa despite Sepp Blatter’s intention to stand down. One imagines that there is further murky news relating to Fifa heading our way.

 

Prince Ali bin Hussein of Jordan was the runner-up in the Presidential election but Michel Platini, who also supported the World Cup in Qatar, is expected to succeed Blatter.