Finally, Fifa president Sepp Blatter heard the howls of condemnation coming from football supporters the world over — and has agreed to step down. Just days after winning re-election to the most powerful post running the most popular game globally, Blatter announced in Zurich that he would be resigning, but would stay on until March at the latest until a replacement is found.
After 17 years, in which he turned Fifa into a fiefdom, the top bureaucrats of the beautiful game turned into a kleptocracy where wads of cash secured votes, contracts and kickbacks — if the allegations laid out by the US Department of Justice and Swiss police are to be believed.
Sadly, Blatter should have stepped aside months ago, when his own ethics investigator into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups turned in a report that was then parsed, redacted and hidden away. Blatter’s commitment to fair play consisted of sweeping anything under the carpet then standing on the bulging pile and ignoring it all. Sad that it actually took a US investigator to finally hold Fifa to account while Swiss authorities failed to act for years as allegations of corruption and cronyism endured.
Blatter too should never have stood for a fifth term. And shame on Fifa for going ahead with his election when its senior officials were sitting in cells or appearing before magistrates on extradition hearings. Clearly, his stepping aside now portends of more revelations to come.
