ZURICH (AP) – Soon, soccer won’t have FIFA President Sepp Blatter to kick around any more.
At the age of 79, Blatter, longtime leader of the scandal-scarred governing body of the world’s most popular sport, has announced he is leaving football’s governing body.
Under Blatter’s presidential rule since 1998, FIFA survived – even thrived – through financial crisis and a slew of allegations of bribery, vote-buying and World Cup ticket scams.
Blatter came to embody FIFA and its reputation that was tarnished just as equally as its prize asset, the World Cup, was celebrated as a commercial and popular success.
Yet he was mostly untouched by claims of corruption which unseated or tainted many of his colleagues on the often-discredited FIFA executive committee.