Abystacy Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Sepp Blatter resigns as FIFA president FIFA chief says he will step down from football's governing body once a new president is elected. Blatter said despite his election not everyone in the football world supported him [EPA] FIFA President Sepp Blatter has decided to step down as leader of football's governing body. Blatter announced his decision just four days after the FIFA Congress that saw him win a fifth term as the body's president. "I am now free of the constraints of the election," Blatter said. Blatter's 40-year journey Blatter has been FIFA President since June 8, 1998. A business and economics graduate, Blatter also served as General Secretary of the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation and was involved in the organisation of the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. Blatter joined FIFA as Technical Director in 1975 and served as General Secretary from 1981 until his election as president. Blatter called allegations against Qatar 2022 as racist and called for politicians unhappy with Russia 2018 to "stay at home". Allegations of financial mismanagement and sexist remarks for female footballers have landed Blatter in hot water regularly. "I will now be in a position to enact reforms to follow on our initial efforts. For many years, we have gone to great lengths and these need to continue as they have not yet been sufficient. "Although the members have re-elected me, this mandate does not seem to be supported by everyone in the world of football." He added at a press conference on Tuesday in Zurich that an "extraordinary congress" would be convened to elect a successor as soon as possible. FIFA has said the elections will take place between December 2015 and March 2016 to allow candidates time to prepare. The resignation, which was widely unexpected, came amid one of the most controversial episodes in FIFA's history. Seven high-ranking FIFA officials were arrested ahead of the football governing body's meeting on Friday. At the elections, out of the 206 valid votes, Blatter got 133 while his rival candidate Prince Ali bin Al Hussein obtained 73 but neither candidate was able to obtain the two-thirds majority for an outright win. But Blatter was re-elected after Prince Ali conceded defeat as the voting went into a second round. Following his re-election, Blatter had come out fighting on Saturday, implying that the US timed the announcement of a major corruption probe to try to scupper his re-election bid. Blatter's right-hand man The investigation closed in on Blatter on Tuesday when FIFA was forced to deny that his right-hand man, Secretary-General Jerome Valcke, was implicated in a $10m payment that lies at the heart of the US case. Valcke has been secretary-general since 2007 and is seen as one of the most powerful men in world sport, had no role in the payments, which were authorised by the chairman of FIFA's Finance Committee, FIFA said in an earlier statement. The chairman of the committee at the time of the payments was Argentina's Julio Grondona, who died last year. FIFA had earlier cleared senior management, including secrtary general Jerome Valcke ®, of involvement in alleged bribe for S Africa 2010 [Getty Images] Blatter not being investigated Meanwhile, Switzerland's office of attorney general (OAG) has confirmed that it was not investigating outgoing Blatter. "Joseph S. Blatter is not under investigation by the OAG," the attorney general said in a brief statement. "His announced resignation will have no influence on the ongoing criminal proceedings." The attorney general had opened criminal proceedings against persons unknown on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and of money laundering alongside the US corruption investigation. Woo-Hoo finally. I do hope we get a new president who isnt as corrupt and loves football as much as its fans!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calllaris Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 “Why would I step down? That would mean I recognise that I did wrong.”Sepp Blatter, 29 May 2015 He is smart to accept a resignation deal afterall; to stop the wheel's of justice from his trail 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abystacy Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 Blatter is ruthless. Was it not few days ago he successfully defended his presidency. Who knows what happens behind close doors. Now he's resigning .He's a clever mastermind. He wouldn't just go down like that . Like one of the CNN presenter said *** One does not remain atop the FIFA pyramid for so long without knowing how to play politics**** I don't think this will be the last we will hear of Blatter association in the organization. They might even decide to vote him into honorary role. After all, João Havelange his predecessor was elected honorary president amidst corruption allegations. Personally I think he should just go, really go. It was long overdue. He should have retired years back. Long-serving and proud leaders who are forced from power often try to delay the final moment. Margaret Thatcher tried it in British politics, clinging on in the face of unavoidable defeat. Now Mr Blatter is trying to shape and control the future and the succession, which to me shows how much power he still got. NB. Qatar and Russia should also be canceled or looked into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Althena Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Blatter is ruthless. Was it not few days ago he successfully defended his presidency. Who knows what happens behind close doors. Now he's resigning .He's a clever mastermind. He wouldn't just go down like that . Like one of the CNN presenter said *** One does not remain atop the FIFA pyramid for so long without knowing how to play politics**** I don't think this will be the last we will hear of Blatter association in the organization. They might even decide to vote him into honorary role. After all, João Havelange his predecessor was elected honorary president amidst corruption allegations. Personally I think he should just go, really go. It was long overdue. He should have retired years back. Long-serving and proud leaders who are forced from power often try to delay the final moment. Margaret Thatcher tried it in British politics, clinging on in the face of unavoidable defeat. Now Mr Blatter is trying to shape and control the future and the succession, which to me shows how much power he still got. NB. Qatar and Russia should also be canceled or looked into. There is nothing clever about his resignation. It is being reported that Chuck Blazer (ex FIFA official that was first caught) turned into state witness and sang like a canary. His testimony will be redacted today and apparently it has all the juicy details on Blatter. These 7 people also arrested in Switzerland are going to need to give him up to reduce their sentences. When FIFA sponsors heard of this yesterday, they gave Sepp an ultimatum and that's why he had to quickly resign. No future role for him except jail, he was forced out these last hours and I am excitedly waiting for the rest to unfold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abystacy Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 Blatter has not yet been identified publicly as a target of the investigation if I may say. It just what the are saying. FBI are investigating the fifa president nothing is concrete yet. There's a probe of 150m dollars allegations. There's questions regarding who transferred and who received the money. . Interpol has issued ’international wanted persons’ alerts for two former FIFA officials and four corporate executives as part of the investigation into football-related corruption. Jack Warner former FIFA vice-president and ex-FIFA member Nicolas Leoz has been named. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abystacy Posted June 5, 2015 Author Share Posted June 5, 2015 More secret been revealed. .. Fifa and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) are under pressure to explain why a payment of €5m (£***.67m) was made by the governing body in return for Ireland dropping legal action over theThierry Henry handball that prevented the country reaching the World Cup finals in 2010. And if this is true, then I'm 100% certain that the South African rumor about paying a $10m bribe to secure the 2010 World Cup should be investigated and if possible Brazil world cup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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