ZURICH, Switzerland, June 2 (UPI) -- FIFA president Joseph "Sepp" Blatter announced on Tuesday his resignation following recent charges of corruption weighed against figures in the international soccer association.
Blatter was re-elected as president of FIFA for a fifth term last Friday, two days after seven officials in the organization were arrested in Switzerland on charges including racketeering and money laundering.
"I felt compelled to stand for re-election, as I believed that this was the best thing for the organization," Blatter said, speaking in Zurich. "That election is over, but FIFA's challenges are not. FIFA needs a profound overhaul. 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. 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 added the next FIFA Congress takes place May 2016 in Mexico City.
"This would create unnecessary delay and I will urge the Executive Committee to organize an Extraordinary Congress for the election of my successor at the earliest opportunity," Blatter said. "This will need to be done in line with FIFA's statutes and we must allow enough time for the best candidates to present themselves and to campaign."
Wednesday's arrests were followed by calls from UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Michel Platini, head of the Union of European Football Associations, for Blatter to resign.
"Today FIFA is no longer strong," Platini said at a news conference at the time. "People have had enough. People don't want [Blatter] any more. It's not easy to tell a friend that he must leave. I'm saying this with sadness, with tears in my eyes... There have been too many scandals."
Blatter, 79, reportedly refused Platini's request, and during an emergency meeting with FIFA officials in Zurich on Wednesday, he said he would not step down.
The charges announced by the U.S. Justice Department accuse 14 people of "racketeering, wire fraud and money-laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with the defendants' participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer."
The suspects face extradition from Switzerland to the United States.
In his resignation speech, Blatter said FIFA has no control over the confederations which the officials represent, and he called for "deep-rooted structural change," including a reduction in the size of the Executive Committee and the election of its members through the FIFA Congress. He also proposed term limits for the organization's president and committee members, as well as performing "integrity checks" of committee members centrally through FIFA rather than through the confederations.
Blatter said that since he would not be a candidate in the new election, he would be "able to focus on driving far-reaching, fundamental reforms that transcend our previous efforts."
"For years, we have worked hard to put in place administrative reforms, but it is plain to me that while these must continue, they are not enough," he said.
