President Sepp Blatter is turning into the Brett Favre of FIFA.
CBS Sports is reporting from the Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag that Blatter is reconsidering his announcement, less than two weeks after he announced his plan to resign.
"According to an anonymous source, Blatter has received messages of support from African and Asian soccer associations, asking him to stay on as president," CBS Sports reported. "The source said Blatter has not ruled out staying in office.
"Blatter has been in the position since 1998. He announced his resignation, shortly after being reelected president, in light of FBI-led investigations into corruption on World Cup bidding. FIFA was going to select his successor in December."
Blatter announced his intention to resign on June 2, just days after being re-elected president for a fifth term, saying he was "the president of everybody."
"The election has closed, but the challenges that FIFA is facing have not come to an end," said Blatter, according to an earlier CBS Sports report. "FIFA needs profound restructuring. Although the members of FIFA have given me the mandate and re-elected me as president, this mandate does not appear to be supported by everybody.
"I will call an extraordinary congress and put at disposal my function [as president]. It is going to be held as soon as possible and a new president will be elected to follow me," said Blatter. "I will continue to exercise my function as president of FIFA until the new elections will be held."
Blatter's change of heart could be more controversial than that of Favre, who told reporters he was mulling retirement year after year until finally he announced his retirement with the Green Bay Packers, only to change his mind but not be welcomed back as the Packers decided to go with Aaron Rogers.
Favre went on to play three more seasons, one with the New York Jets and two with the Minnesota Vikings.
CBS added that an ABC News report indicated "that Blatter is being investigated by the FBI as part of the on-going corruption probe despite the fact that he was not named in last week's indictment."
It is unclear what, if anything has changed since Blatter's decision to step down, other than the show of support of some nations.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
