Top officials of FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, on Monday set a date of Feb. 26, 2016 for a special election to choose a successor to the organization’s embattled President, Sepp Blatter.
FIFA’s Executive Committee during a meeting in Zurich, also were to discuss ways to overhaul the organization and to restore its battered image after the organization was ensnared in the worst corruption scandal in its history. But they first set a date for an election to replace Blatter, who said he would not enter the race. Blatter’s opponents had pushed for an earlier election — Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who lost to Blatter in the presidential election held in June, told the Associated Press on Monday that “he must go now” — but the president’s desire for a longer campaign season won out.
Monday’s executive committee meeting represented the highest-profile gathering of the sport’s top officials since Blatter, who has led the organization for 17 years, said he would resign as law enforcement officials in the United States confirmed that he was the focus of a federal corruption investigation.
In May, the Swiss authorities arrested seven FIFA officials at a five-star hotel in Zurich in response to a sweeping corruption investigation by American authorities. The Justice Department indicted 14 current and former soccer officials and marketing executives, contending that they had corrupted the sport with murky deals and US$150 million in bribes.
FIFA officials have sought to present the meeting as a seminal moment showing that the organization is willing to shake up a culture that investigators say is mired in corruption and cronyism.
