Not a surprising piece of news, and a very predictable outcome for the 79-year-old Sepp Blatter which allegedly involved in every piece of corruption momentum from the Association resigns from the presidency after only a week from his re-election, only two days before the vote for Blatter’s fifth term, seven Fifa officials were arrested continuing an investigation coming from U.S. Justice Department, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office.
The investigation furthered from Secretary-General and Blatter’s right-hand man Jerome Valcke implication and later denial from Fifa of alleged $10 million payment for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, charges involve racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering, and Swiss authorities are digging into the allocation of World Cups, Russia won the bidding over England for 2018 and Qatar for 2022, linked to the scandal, of improper behaviour and going as far as taking bribes from the bidding countries.
Michel Platini president of UEFA urged Blatter to not go into re-election following the arrests in Switzerland, vociferous of the former Fifa president, Platini stating this should have happened years ago, and with the majority of the public eye taking the resignation as a positive step to ensure a more transparent structure and institution, Platini is the favorite to succeed the presidency followed closely by Jordan’s prince Ali bin Al Hussein, the prince was a part of the last election, withdrawing after the first round tallied 73 votes for and 133 against. other withdrawals as a result of the crackdown are some sponsors that again reacted positively to the resignation, namely Coca-Cola Co and Adidas.
Blatter moved to elect a new president for the Federation, although realistically the extraordinary congress is expected to take place between December 2015 and March 2016, amidst the worst crisis in Fifa history comes the Champions League final, will provide a chance to allow fans all over the world to put aside the controversy and enjoy the sport once more.
