Blatter resigns as FIFA president

(ANSA-AP) - Zurich, June 2 - FIFA President Sepp Blatter resigned Tuesday from soccer's governing body amid a widening corruption scandal. He told a press conference at FIFA headquarters in Zurich he will remain at his post until the end of the year and has promised to call for fresh elections to choose a successor "by March 2016". "I care about FIFA above all else...I no longer feel the support of the world of football," said the 79-year-old, who was re-elected Friday to his fifth consecutive term as FIFA president. The vote came after a crippling corruption probe and the arrest of seven senior FIFA officials in Zurich on Wednesday. The US Justice Department said two FIFA vice-presidents were among those arrested pending extradition to the US on corruption charges - North and Central America and Caribbean Confederation President Jeffrey Webb, and Uruguay's Eugenio Figueredo, the president of South American governing body Conmebol.
    The other five, who were detained at a Zurich hotel in a dawn raid, are Costa Rica's Eduardo Li, Brazil's Jose Maria Marin, Nicaragua's Julio Rocha, Venezuela's Rafael Esquivel and Costas Takkas, an UK national who is an attache to the CONCACAF president.
    They are among 14 suspects indicted on graft charges in relation to alleged involvement in bribes totalling some $100 million over two decades.
    Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has also been indicted.
    Swiss prosecutors, meanwhile, announced that they have launched a separate investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were assigned to Russia and Qatar respectively.
    FIFA's Zurich headquarters were also raided on Wednesday, with electronic data and documents seized.
    Nevertheless, a FIFA spokesperson told reporters last week that Blatter would not step down as he is not personally implicated, and insisted that the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will go ahead as planned.
    Swiss Blatter has been at the helm of FIFA since 1998 and had managed to hang on to his position despite repeated reports of corruption with the organisation, especially regarding the way the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were awarded.