DFL president calls for immediate Sepp Blatter resignation
German football league president Reinhard Rauball has called on FIFA president Sepp Blatter to resign immediately, reports German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Rauball, who has been the president of the DFL since 2007, said “it’s high time” for Blatter’s resignation and a change in the power structure of FIFA in the wake of the corruption scandal.
Blatter is currently under criminal investigation after 14 FIFA officials were indicted by the United States government last May on corruption charges.
After being re-elected for his fifth term as FIFA president in May, Blatter, 79, announced his resignation from the organization six days after the indictments. He is set to step down as president in February.
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UEFA president Michel Platini was among the candidates in consideration for the FIFA presidency, but his candidacy is now in question after reports that he received a suspicious £1.3million payment from Blatter.
Blatter told prosecutors that “the payments were valid compensation and nothing more, and were properly accounted for within FIFA including the withholding of Social Security contributions.”
In Sueddeutsche Zeitung’s report, Rauball called on Platini for further explanations about the exchange saying, “What Platini has let us know so far just isn’t enough.”
A UEFA spokesperson said Wednesday that Platini “has been fully open and transparent with the authorities” and “has not been accused of any wrongdoing.”
Authorities are still investigating the matter.
- Kayla Lombardo
