Blatter walks

SO, IT turns out that Sepp Blatter’s shamelessness does have limits, after all. Having failed to reform a broken FIFA, football’s governing body, in his 17 years as president, he then refused to step down or even postpone its presidential election after the disclosure last week of more than a dozen American indictments against current and former FIFA officials for alleged bribery. Mr Blatter won re-election on May 29th, in a closer-than-expected vote, but international hostility apparently grew intolerable. At a press conference on Tuesday—so hastily convened that only a dozen journalists were present—the Swiss septuagenarian fell on his sword. The chairman of England’s Football Association, Greg Dyke, had predicted that Mr Blatter wouldn’t last two years after re-election. It turned out to be less than a week.

He will stay on until a successor is chosen. That is due to happen at an “extraordinary congress”, the date of which will be decided by FIFA’s executive committee. It is likely to take place between December 2015 and March 2016. That will give plenty of time for candidates to come forward, unveil their platforms and campaign. Michel Platini, the head of UEFA, the group of European associations that led opposition to Mr Blatter’s re-election from within the football world, is likely to be among the favourites to replace him—even though he supported Qatar’s successful bid for the 2022 World Cup, which is one of FIFA’s biggest controversies. Prince Ali bin Hussein of Jordan, who stood against Mr Blatter last week, and Luis Figo, a Portuguese ex-footballer who dropped out of the race before the vote, are other possible contenders.

In a brief statement, Mr Blatter said he had been “reflecting deeply” on his presidency, and that “while I have a mandate from the membership of FIFA, I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of football.” He added, with no hint of irony, that in the coming months “I shall be able to focus on driving far-reaching, fundamental reforms that transcend our previous efforts.”

Mr Blatter offered several ideas for “deep-rooted structural change”, such as reducing the size of the executive committee, electing its members through the FIFA Congress, and issuing “integrity checks” for all committee members centrally through FIFA, not through its regional confederations. Mr Blatter added that he wants to see term limits introduced for committee members as well as for the president.

Domenico Scala, head of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee, followed Mr Blatter to the podium, declaring that now is the time “to fundamentally reform the way in which people see FIFA”. In a separate interview Mr Dyke made a similar point, albeit in a less gracious way: “Let’s celebrate. This is nothing to do with Mr Blatter being honourable. He hasn’t been honourable in years.”

There is bound to be speculation that the timing of Mr Blatter’s resignation is linked to an article in the New York Times, published less than 24 hours earlier. It concerned the mystery surrounding the identity of a “high-ranking FIFA official” who, according to the indictments, made a $10m payment in 2008 that is at the heart of the bribery allegations. The Americans allege that this was a backhander paid to a FIFA official in exchange for supporting South Africa’s successful bid to host the World Cup in 2010. The newspaper reported that the feds believe the payer was Jérôme Valcke, who as secretary-general of FIFA is Sepp Blatter’s second-in-command.

In response to the article, FIFA issued a statement saying that the $10m payment was made by the organisation on behalf of the South African government; that it was “to support the African diaspora in Caribbean countries as part of the World Cup legacy”; and that neither Mr Valcke nor any other member of its senior management "were involved in the initiation, approval and implementation" of the "project". Mr Valcke has not been charged with or accused of any crime. The possibility of his involvement will stoke speculation about what, if anything, his boss knew about the payment. Mr Blatter has said of it: "Definitely that is not me…I have no $10m."

The Swiss attorney general, who is probing the voting for the Qatar World Cup and for the 2018 competition in Russia, said after Mr Blatter’s statement that he is not under investigation in Switzerland, which hosts FIFA. The situation in America is less clear. Mr Blatter told Swiss television on the day of his re-election: “Why would I step down? That would mean I recognise that I did wrong.”