Sepp Blatter Resigns as FIFA President

It was a difficult decision, a brave decision, and the right decision

Mr. Blatter’s resignation announcement, which was hailed by many officials, corporate sponsors and soccer fans around the world, came six days after Swiss law enforcement officials raided  a Zurich hotel and arrested several soccer officials there to attend FIFA’s annual meeting.

After his re-election, Mr. Blatter defiantly vowed to lead a renaissance of the body, tarnished by the latest scandal and by years of allegations of corruption and abuse of power.

In a brief, terse appearance on Tuesday, he changed gears.

“What counts most to me is the institution,” Mr. Blatter said, after announcing his plans to step down.Mr. Blatter has served as president of world soccer’s governing body since 1998, weathering a series of controversies and scandals, including the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a country with scant soccer experience or infrastructure.

While Mr. Blatter had faced down pressure before, in the past week there have been unprecedented calls for boycotts of the World Cup and the creation of a competing event that would include countries in the Americas and Europe that supported Mr. Blatter’s opponent, Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al Hussein, in last week’s election. Mr. Blatter faced the prospect of becoming the man responsible for the collapse of the world’s most popular sporting event.

It is due this mounted pressure that Mr.Blatter resigned yesterday.

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