Zurich, June 2: The corruption scandal finally caught up with FIFA president Sepp Blatter and he had no option but to resign from his chair here Tuesday. The embattled president, who had just been re-elected for a fifth term May 29, announced in a hastily called media conference that he was quitting his position.
“A special FIFA Congress will soon be called to elect the new president,” stated Blatter. “The time has come for the restructuring of FIFA.”
Since the arrest of seven top officials here six days ago, pressure had been mounting on Blatter to quit. A couple of countries like England had also floated the idea of boycotting the 2018 World Cup as questions were raised regarding the way Russia and Qatar (2022) were awarded the rights to host the tournament.
In spite of strong opposition, Blatter had managed to win the FIFA elections banking on the support of Asian and African bloc. But then when the name of his right-hand man, Jerome Valcke cropped up Tuesday regarding a $10 million bribery dealing, he had no option but to hang up his boots. Reuters
