(ATR) Sepp Blatter has announced an extraordinary FIFA congress to elect a new president.
In a surprise press conference on Jun. 2, Blatter said that FIFA will call an extraordinary congress "at the earliest opportunity," to hold a new election. Blatter said that he will maintain his role as the FIFA president until the new election, and that he will not stand.
Blatter was elected to a fifth term at the helm of FIFA on May 29, just four days ago.
"While I have a mandate from the membership of FIFA, I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of football – the fans, the players, the clubs, the people who live, breathe and love football as much as we all do at FIFA," Blatter said in his statement.
"Therefore, I have decided to lay down my mandate at an extraordinary elective congress. I will continue to exercise my functions as FIFA president until that election."
Blatter cited a need for "deep-rooted structural change," within FIFA, and said that institutional chance must come from FIFA rather than the confederations. Blatter added that he is recommending term limits for both the FIFA president and executive committee members.
Speaking after Blatter,Domenico Scala, chairman of the FIFA Audit & Compliance Committee,said that the earliest the congress could be called is in December, due to FIFA bylaws requiring at least four months notice for an election. He added that there must be time for the candidates to present their vision and the ultimate date of the new congress will be decided by the executive committee.
"As I said a year ago, the structure of the executive committee and its members are at the core of the current issues that FIFA is facing. Current events only reinforce my determination to drive this reform," Scala said.
"Many of the issues that have been raised in the past relate to the actions of individuals. In orderto ensure that those who represent FIFA are of the highest integrity, FIFA will seek to implementFIFA-driven integrity checks for all executive committee members,"
Written by Aaron Bauer
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
