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FIFA
President Sepp Blatter
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FIFA President Sepp
Blatter was relieved of his International Olympic Committee ex officio
membership on Monday, seven months before he will be replaced as the head of
soccer's governing body, IOC President Thomas Bach said on Monday. Blatter
would ordinarily have been re-elected for another eight-year term as a
procedural matter at the ongoing IOC Session in Malaysia, along with more than
a dozen other members, but would be required to stand down when he left FIFA at
the end of February.
The
79-year-old Swiss was re-elected for a fifth term as FIFA president in Zurich
on May 29 but announced he would lay down his mandate just four days later in
the wake of the worst crisis in the soccer authority's history.
Reuters report continues:
FIFA
was thrown into turmoil two days ahead of its presidential election when more
than a dozen officials and sports marketing executives were indicted by the
United States on bribery, money laundering and wire fraud charges.
Although
Blatter has not been accused of any wrongdoing, his stewardship has been
heavily criticized and his troubled reign, that began in 1998, will come to an
end when he is replaced by the winner of FIFA's next presidential election on
Feb. 26.
The
Swiss has been an ex officio IOC member since 1999.
"Mr
Blatter wrote me a letter on July 23 informing me that it would be
inappropriate to seek another eight-year term as he was retiring from his
position at FIFA in seven months when a new president will be selected on Feb.
26," Bach said.
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