Finally: Sepp Blatter quits as FIFA president

After all the defiance, all the excuses and all the blustery insistence that he would continue to lead FIFA, global soccer's disgraced governing body, Sepp Blatter on Tuesday finally announced that he'll do what virtually the entire soccer world has wanted him to do all along: Quit.

Blatter announced his intention to step down as president at a surprise news conference in Zurich, Switzerland, where FIFA is headquartered.

FIFA has been plagued by corruption for much of Blatter's tenure, which culminated in a raid led by the U.S. Justice Department at a Zurich hotel last week that included 14 indictments of global soccer tycoons.

Blatter was not among the indicted. That came as a surprise to most observers, who saw him, at worst, as a robber baron who used bribery, kickbacks and slush funds to line his own pockets or, at best, an incompetent manager who allowed executives beneath him to run amok.

But a Monday night report from The New York Times — which has led coverage of the crackdown since last week — said the walls were closing in on FIFA's embattled president. TheTimes reported that federal investigators believe Blatter's top lieutenant was a central figure in delivering illicit funds, thus putting Blatter himself closer to direct contact with the wrongdoing.

Given Blatter's defiance in the face of years of criticism and calls for his resignation — and his continued insistence on leading FIFA after its massive and still unfolding corruption scandal — his sudden abdication makes one wonder what forced the move. After he was re-elected last week, Blatter called himself the "president of everybody."

Just four days later, he quit. So what prompted the change of heart? Chances are we'll learn the answer to that question soon enough as more news continues to trickle out from the Justice Department's investigation, which reportedly includes Blatter himself.

When FIFA's new president will take over, however, was not immediately clear after Tuesday's press conference. Speaking after Blatter, Domenico Scala, independent chairman of FIFA's audit and compliance committee, said he expects the "extraordinary congress" to take place sometime between this December and March of 2016.

Blatter said he will continue to serve as president until the special election, and declined to take questions after his prepared remarks.

"I cherish FIFA more than anything and want to do only what is best for FIFA and for football,” he said before acknowledging that the organization needs a "profound overhaul."

Much of the scandal surrounding FIFA centers on the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were awarded to Russia and Qatar, respectively. That also points to why the current FIFA scandal is unlike other sports scandals — and why it's a human rights issue that goes much deeper than executive fat cats simply siphoning off funds in corporate boardrooms.

For example: The 2022 World Cup award to Qatar has by now been written off as a shady and unjust transaction by anyone paying attention to it. Meanwhile, hundreds of migrant workers toiling in slave-like conditions have died in Qatar while building the country's infrastructure to host the global mega-event. At the current rate, the International Trade Union Confederation estimates, at least 4,000 workers will die there before the 2022 tournament kicks off.

Residents were cleared from favelas in Brazil ahead of the 2014 tournament too. As Grantland's Brian Phillips wrote last week, "You should care about FIFA corruption ... because it’s spreading human misery and death on an international scale."

Given stakes of that magnitude, it would seem a resignation from Blatter does not do nearly enough to right the injustices perpetrated and perpetuated under his oversight. But, for now at least, it's a step in the right direction. 

Sam Laird