 "A tumultuous week ends as Blatter gets standing ovation")
In one tumultuous week, world soccer's governing body was plunged into a corruption scandal, top officials were arrested, new investigations were launched, and Sepp Blatter was re-elected as president, only to stun everyone by saying he was quitting.
Yesterday, Blatter's staff gave him a standing ovation.
As ripples of the scandal reverberated from Europe to Africa to the Middle East, the embattled president showed up for work at FIFA's gleaming headquarters in Zurich, where FIFA spokeswoman Delia Fischer said he met with staff and received their applause.
On May 27, Swiss police raided a luxury Zurich hotel on the eve of FIFA's annual conference and arrested seven soccer officials. They were among 14 current and former sports and marketing officials indicted by U S authorities on bribery, vote-rigging and other corruption charges.
In a separate investigation, Swiss authorities seized documents at FIFA headquarters in their probe into the bidding contests for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments.
The 79-year-old Blatter has not been officially implicated so far in either investigation, and he won re-election to a fifth, four-year term Friday during the FIFA congress. But just four days later, he announced that he would resign and call for a new election to find a successor in a process that could take up to a year.
Some of the developments in the case around the world:
The Blazer case: Prosecutors unsealed a 40-page transcript of a 2013 hearing in federal court in New York in which former FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer said he and others on the panel agreed to receive bribes to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup.
Blazer pleaded guilty to racketeering and other charges at that hearing. He also said he arranged bribes around 1992 in the vote for which country would host the 1998 World Cup. France won the election over Morocco.
Blazer was the No. 2 official of soccer's North and Central American and Caribbean region from 1990-2011 and served on FIFA's executive committee from 1997-2013.
2010 World Cup: In Johannesburg, South African officials said they made an "above-board payment" of $10 million to help soccer development in the Caribbean region but emphasized that it was not a bribe to secure the 2010 World Cup.
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said the government wanted to "categorically deny" paying any bribes to win the right to host the 2010 tournament. His remarks came before the Blazer transcript was released in New York.
Yesterday, Blatter's staff gave him a standing ovation.
As ripples of the scandal reverberated from Europe to Africa to the Middle East, the embattled president showed up for work at FIFA's gleaming headquarters in Zurich, where FIFA spokeswoman Delia Fischer said he met with staff and received their applause.
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On May 27, Swiss police raided a luxury Zurich hotel on the eve of FIFA's annual conference and arrested seven soccer officials. They were among 14 current and former sports and marketing officials indicted by U S authorities on bribery, vote-rigging and other corruption charges.
In a separate investigation, Swiss authorities seized documents at FIFA headquarters in their probe into the bidding contests for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments.
The 79-year-old Blatter has not been officially implicated so far in either investigation, and he won re-election to a fifth, four-year term Friday during the FIFA congress. But just four days later, he announced that he would resign and call for a new election to find a successor in a process that could take up to a year.
Some of the developments in the case around the world:
The Blazer case: Prosecutors unsealed a 40-page transcript of a 2013 hearing in federal court in New York in which former FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer said he and others on the panel agreed to receive bribes to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup.
Blazer pleaded guilty to racketeering and other charges at that hearing. He also said he arranged bribes around 1992 in the vote for which country would host the 1998 World Cup. France won the election over Morocco.
Blazer was the No. 2 official of soccer's North and Central American and Caribbean region from 1990-2011 and served on FIFA's executive committee from 1997-2013.
2010 World Cup: In Johannesburg, South African officials said they made an "above-board payment" of $10 million to help soccer development in the Caribbean region but emphasized that it was not a bribe to secure the 2010 World Cup.
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said the government wanted to "categorically deny" paying any bribes to win the right to host the 2010 tournament. His remarks came before the Blazer transcript was released in New York.