GENEVA -- Following Sepp Blatter's re-election as FIFA president when the incumbent head beat his only challenger Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, the Swiss surprised the world of football on Tuesday when he announced that he had finally decided to step down.
Four days into his four-year term, Blatter stated in a press conference held in the federation's headquarters in Zurich that "FIFA needs a complete overhaul...I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of football."
An extraordinary congress is to be organized by FIFA's executive committee as soon as possible so that a new president can be elected.
According to Tribune de Geneve, this will take place sometime between December 2015 and March 2016, until which time the 79-year-old will remain at the federation's helm which he has led since 1998.
Though this decision may come as a shock as the Swiss was easily re-elected for a fifth consecutive term, the federation's crisis is still raging amid continued and widespread corruption scandals.
Seven top FIFA officials were arrested by Swiss police at their Zurich hotel last Wednesday by Swiss police on the request of U.S. authorities, a day before FIFA's 65th two-day congress took place.
A total of nine high-profile North, Central and South-American FIFA officials and five corporate executives have been indicted on allegations of fraud, bribery and money laundering.
The crisis, however, seems far from over as Jerome Valcke, Blatter's right-hand man and FIFA secretary general, has recently found himself suspected of bribery accusations.
According to Le Temps, citing American media, the Frenchman is thought to have transferred 10 million US dollars to accounts managed by FIFA's former vice president Jack Warner to seal the deal on South Africa's 2010 World Cup candidacy - FIFA has cleared Valcke's name from any wrongdoing.
Le Temps cites this latest development as the tipping point which encouraged Blatter to resign, as he "knew that this affair was going to poison his fifth mandate."
Though benefitting from the support of both the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), European football association (UEFA) head Michel Platini had asked Blatter to step down before the elections, telling him that "enough is enough."
Now that the wheels have been set in motion for the deep structural changes called for by Blatter on Tuesday to take place, speculation as to who will stand for president can begin.
Domenico Scala, the Independent Chairman of FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee, will lead the search for Blatter's successor as well as facilitate the implementation of reforms which will "include fundamental changes to the way in which this organization is structured."
According to media reports, Al Hussein of Jordan, who obtained 73 out of the 206 valid votes on Friday, has already mentioned his ambition of standing for president.
Platini has also been suggested as a possible contender, as have Michael van Praag and Luis Figo, who were candidates in this year's election until withdrawing from the race shortly before the ballot took place.
Though it is still too early to say who will definitely stand for the position, what is certain is that it will be FIFA's 209 member-strong congress that will have the final say.
