Days after being reelected to a fifth consecutive tern as Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) president, Sepp Blatter has announced that he will resign from his position.
“This mandate does not seem to be supported by everybody in the world of football,” Blatter said at a news conference announcing his resignation. “FIFA needs a profound restructuring.”
Blatter’s reelection came several days after a United States-led probe into FIFA charged 14 officials with various corruption crimes.
FIFA has been associated with corruption since initial claims and suspicions of under-the-table monetary exchanges surfaced in the early ‘90s.
As the world’s largest sports organization, FIFA has always drawn massive licensed sponsors, and several seem to be eager to move on from the soccer organization’s alleged wrongdoings.
“We welcome FIFA’s commitment to change,” adidas said in a statement. “As stated before, the adidas Group is fully committed to creating a culture that promotes the highest standards of ethics and compliance. Today’s news marks a step in the right direction on FIFA’s path to establish and follow transparent compliance standards in everything they do.”
Blatter said he will remain FIFA president until a new election can take place, which many believe will happen sometime between December 2015 and March 2016, according to multiple media outlets. — J.B.