{"id":29215,"date":"2015-06-02T12:58:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T19:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=29215"},"modified":"2015-06-02T16:22:43","modified_gmt":"2015-06-02T23:22:43","slug":"sepp-blatter-will-resign-as-fifa-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sepp-blatter-will-resign-as-fifa-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Sepp Blatter Will Resign As FIFA President"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sepp
Sepp Blatter will resign his position as the president of FIFA sometime in the next year. (Image: Fabrice Coffrini\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

FIFA President Sepp Blatter<\/a> announced on Tuesday that he would resign from his position in the aftermath of corruption charges against several senior FIFA officials that were brought by the United States government late last week.<\/p>\n

Blatter made the announcement at an unexpected press conference that was hastily arranged in Zurich.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate and love FIFA more than anything else,\u201d Blatter said. \u201cAnd I only want to do the best for FIFA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Needless to say, there are many people in the soccer world who would vehemently dispute this claim by Sepp Blatter.<\/p>\n

Extraordinary FIFA Conference to be Scheduled<\/b><\/h2>\n

Blatter said that he would not immediately vacate his post.<\/p>\n

Instead, he would perform the duties of FIFA President until a successor could be determined, with Blatter himself outlining how that process would go forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will call an extraordinary conference,\u201d \u201cIt will be held as soon as possible and a new president will be elected to follow me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Early media reports have suggested that this conference could take place somewhere between four and six months in the future.<\/p>\n

Blatter Won Reelection Days Earlier<\/b><\/h2>\n

The decision to resign comes as a stunning turnaround for Blatter, who was just reelected for a fifth term as FIFA<\/a> President on Friday. In that election, he faced just one opponent, Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein of Jordan, and Blatter\u2019s victory was never in doubt.<\/p>\n

In the first round of voting, Blatter received 133 votes, while al-Hussein received just 73. That was enough to force a second round of runoff voting, but al-Hussein chose to concede the election instead.<\/p>\n

Soon after that election, Blatter appeared triumphant and defiant, remaking that he was the \u201cpresident of everybody.\u201d But much has changed even in the last few days, even if these events didn\u2019t receive the kind of headlines that last week\u2019s indictments generated.<\/p>\n

UEFA Rumblings, Bribery Report May Have Increased Pressure<\/b><\/h2>\n
\"Sepp
Sepp Blatter has caused a serious backlash to his leadership of FIFA. (Image:theeagleonline.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since those indictments were handed down, there have been rumblings of a World Cup boycott or other actions from UEFA, the European confederation for soccer.<\/p>\n

While those threats may never have amounted to an actual boycott (Germany, for instance, said that they would not back such a move), there were likely other options on the table, and UEFA would have the clout to put considerable pressure on Blatter and FIFA as a whole.<\/p>\n

Another concern could have been the implication of FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke, Blatter\u2019s chief lieutenant, in an alleged $10 million bribery scheme designed to buy votes for South Africa to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n

FIFA attempted to shield Valcke from the payment while also saying that the money, paid to former CONCACAF president Jack Warner, was part of a \u201cDiaspora Legacy Programme\u201d to support soccer in the Caribbean for players of African descent.<\/p>\n

However, journalists found that this program had never been mentioned anywhere outside of the one payment to Warner, and a letter talking about the payment sent directly to Valcke was obtained by the Press Association in South Africa only hours after the FIFA denial.<\/p>\n

Platini Favorite to Become Next FIFA President<\/b><\/h2>\n

In his press conference on Tuesday, Blatter said that \u201cFIFA needs a profound restructuring,\u201d one that would include changes to the FIFA executive committee as well, perhaps including term limits for both the president and the executive committee members.<\/p>\n

William Hill immediately put up betting odds on who will become the next FIFA President, with current UEFA President Michel Platini being installed as the 6-5 favorite.<\/p>\n

Prince Ali bin al-Hussein is the second choice at 7-4 odds, while former Portuguese superstar Luis Figo is listed at 6-1.<\/p>\n

While the change in FIFA leadership likely comes far too late for any changes to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, there is less certainty over how Blatter\u2019s resignation could impact the 2022 World Cup planned for Qatar.<\/p>\n

While William Hill still has Qatar has the favorite to host the tournament (at 4-7 odds), the odds of a venue change are now just 5-4, or barely more than even money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced on Tuesday that he would resign from his position in the aftermath of corruption charges against several senior FIFA officials that were brought by the United States government late last week. Blatter made the announcement at an unexpected press conference that was hastily arranged in Zurich. \u201cI appreciate and love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":29216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSepp Blatter Will Resign as FIFA President<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sepp Blatter made the shocking announcement on Tuesday that he would resign as FIFA President in the months to come.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sepp Blatter Will Resign as FIFA President\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sepp Blatter made the shocking announcement on Tuesday that he would resign as FIFA President in the months to come.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sepp-blatter-will-resign-as-fifa-president\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-02T19:58:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-02T23:22:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Sepp-blatter-006.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"460\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"276\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sepp-blatter-will-resign-as-fifa-president\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sepp-blatter-will-resign-as-fifa-president\/\",\"name\":\"Sepp Blatter Will Resign as FIFA President\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sepp-blatter-will-resign-as-fifa-president\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sepp-blatter-will-resign-as-fifa-president\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Sepp-blatter-006.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-02T19:58:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-02T23:22:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Sepp Blatter made the shocking announcement on Tuesday that he would resign as FIFA President in the months to come.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sepp-blatter-will-resign-as-fifa-president\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sepp-blatter-will-resign-as-fifa-president\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sepp-blatter-will-resign-as-fifa-president\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Sepp-blatter-006.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Sepp-blatter-006.jpg\",\"width\":460,\"height\":276,\"caption\":\"Sepp Blatter will resign his position as the president of FIFA sometime in the next year. 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