Blatter
gives up IOC membership as FIFA exit nears
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[August 03, 2015]
By Karolos Grohmann
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - FIFA President
Sepp Blatter was relieved of his International Olympic Committee ex
officio membership on Monday, seven months before he will be replaced as
the head of soccer's governing body, IOC President Thomas Bach said on
Monday.
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Blatter would ordinarily have been re-elected for another eight-year
term as a procedural matter at the ongoing IOC Session in Malaysia,
along with more than a dozen other members, but would be required to
stand down when he left FIFA at the end of February.
The 79-year-old Swiss was re-elected for a fifth term as FIFA
president in Zurich on May 29 but announced he would lay down his
mandate just four days later in the wake of the worst crisis in the
soccer authority's history.
FIFA was thrown into turmoil two days ahead of its presidential
election when more than a dozen officials and sports marketing
executives were indicted by the United States on bribery, money
laundering and wire fraud charges.
Although Blatter has not been accused of any wrongdoing, his
stewardship has been heavily criticized and his troubled reign, that
began in 1998, will come to an end when he is replaced by the winner
of FIFA's next presidential election on Feb. 26.
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The Swiss has been an ex officio IOC member since 1999.
"Mr Blatter wrote me a letter on July 23 informing me that it would
be inappropriate to seek another eight-year term as he was retiring
from his position at FIFA in seven months when a new president will
be selected on Feb. 26," Bach said.
(Editing by John O'Brien)
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