By David Owen in Kuala Lumpur
August 3 – Sepp Blatter, FIFA President at least for another six months, has ceased to be a member of world sport’s most powerful club.
Thomas Bach (pictured), International Olympic Committee (IOC) President, told journalists attending the 128th IOC Session in Malaysia that Blatter had sent him a letter last month informing him that his mandate as FIFA President would come to an end on February 26, when FIFA would elect a new head.
For this reason, and because he was unable to attend the Session, Bach went on, Blatter did not think it appropriate that he be proposed for a new IOC mandate.
Bach told IOC members he had written to Blatter to “thank him for his outstanding service”.
The 79-year-old Swiss national would, under normal circumstances, have relinquished his IOC membership at the end of next year, it being the end of the calendar year in which he attained the age of 80.
While Blatter did not make it to the Malaysian capital, there was a sighting of former FIFA vice president Chung Mong-joon, a South Korean billionaire who has said he intends to enter the race for the FIFA Presidency.
Even in the absence of Blatter, the IOC proceedings were attended by three members of FIFA’s Executive Committee: Issa Hayatou, FIFA’s senior vice president, Lydia Nsekera and Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah. Michel Platini, the UEFA President who is another declared candidate in the FIFA race, was not present.
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