Soccer News: Sepp Blatter to Resigns, Calls for New Election
Who will lead the new world of soccer?
FIFA’s long time President Sepp Blatter has agreed to step down and resign just after being elected again to govern the soccer’s ruling body. Admitting to the growing corruption scandal, Blatter told the world Tuesday that he would call for an election to choose his successor. FIFA is the world’s largest organized body of sports.
How FIFA will look when this controversy is over, no one knows but the 79-year-old Blatter who was re-elected to his fifth term last Friday will not be running the show, at least not officially. Soccer fans from around the world wondered if he would be re-elected just two days after the arrests of seven soccer officials in Switzerland kicked off the crisis.
”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.”
”I will continue to exercise my function (until the new election),” Blatter told reporters. According to FOX, Blatter “looked strained and serious while reading a statement in French before walking off without taking questions”.
Blatter had just defeated by Prince Ali of Jordan 133-73 in the FIFA presidential election – a large margin considering the wide spread spectacle of negative publicity around the FIFA OFFICIALS INDICTED FOR CORRUPTION – Blatter has been with FIFA since in 1975, starting out then as technical director for development projects.
Michel Platini, president of UEFA, had asked for Blatter’s resignation last week. Luis Figo – the one-time FIFA presidential candidate – was also highly critical of Blatter after the president was re-confirmed as the head of world football’s governing body. Figo had issues a manifesto for change months ago that called into question many of FIFA’s policies and practices.
Here are the remarks made by FIFA President Blatter:
I have been reflecting deeply about my presidency and about the forty 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.
In response – Domenico Scala, Independent Chairman Audit and Compliance Committee responded:
Before I begin, I would like to thank the President. The decision that he has made today was difficult and courageous. In the current circumstances, this is the most responsible way to ensure an orderly transition. I know that he has truly acted with the best interests of FIFA and football in his heart.
I have a great amount of respect for the President and the role that he has played in championing reform within FIFA. As he has recognised, we have worked hard to put in place governance reforms. But this has not been enough.
By making this announcement, he has created an opportunity for us to go further than FIFA has before – to fundamentally change the way in which FIFA is structured.
