Sepp Blatter resigned from his position of FIFA president this week after nearly two decades in the job.
Alfredo Dagna, a member of the Argentine Football Association, believes Sepp Blatter stepping down is the best decision for FIFA.
ESPN FC’s Gab Marcotti breaks down who are the biggest candidates to take Sepp Blatter’s position as the next FIFA president.
Sepp Blatter, who officially announced his resignation Tuesday, has called for an election to find a new FIFA president.
Sepp Blatter’s daughter Corinne has said her father was “relieved” to have resigned as FIFA president and wanted to protect his family from the media spotlight.
Three days after winning a fifth term as FIFA president in the aftermath of the arrests of leading FIFA officials, the 79-year-old announced that he would be standing down.
“He is relieved. It suits him well. Since taking the decision, he is much relieved. He is not happy, but he is free,” his daughter told RMC.
“It was weighing heavy on him that everyone was accusing him of I don’t know what, things which aren’t true. That hurts.
“And above all, the media have never stopped. He wants to protect his family. That’s his problem, because they started to attack his family. And now that stops.
“He can handle what happens in football — he’s done that for 40 years. But if his family is attacked, that makes things difficult for him.”
Blatter will stay on until an extraordinary FIFA congress to elect a successor is held in the coming months.
In the meantime, more charges are expected and high-profile former officials Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer are ready to provide evidence of corruption.
Reports in the American media have claimed Blatter is being investigated for alleged corruption as the FBI continues its investigation into world football’s governing body, but his daughter said: “My father has never taken money.
“He’s earned all his money — he’s earned it by working. He’s a working president, and a lot of people do not understand that.”
“It’s difficult, because the people accused are people with whom he has to work. He can’t choose them. They are elected by the different congresses of the confederations.
“He has to work with them, so he can’t be responsible for them.”
Meanwhile, Jerome Champagne, a former high-ranking FIFA official who put himself forward for the last presidential vote before withdrawing in February, told Foot365 he had no explanation for Blatter’s resignation.
“Something extremely serious must have happened. I hope that we’ll know one day. Perhaps he’ll even explain himself one day,” Champagne, who has yet to decide whether to run again, said.
“I’m not going to join the ballet of pretenders who came out of the woodwork saying: ‘I’m a candidate.’
“As they say in the American West, the dust needs to settle a little on the Indians’ path. Let that happen. I haven’t decided anything, but I rule out nothing.”
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