FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s term as an International Olympic Committee member ended Monday when he did not seek re-election.
Blatter was among a group of IOC members up for re-election for another eight-year term. But IOC President Thomas Bach said Blatter informed him by letter on July 23 that he would not stand again.
Blatter, beset by a corruption scandal at FIFA, is due to be replaced as FIFA president in an election on Feb. 26.
“He does not deem it to be appropriate to stand for re-election for eight years knowing that after seven months his term would come to an end,” Bach said on the final day of the IOC’s general assembly in Kuala Lumpur.
Blatter, an IOC member since 1999, would have had to retire from his IOC term next year anyway because he turns 80 in March. The IOC confirmed that Blatter’s membership ended on Monday.
Elsewhere, 14 other IOC members were re-elected for eight-year terms, while Gunilla Lindberg of Sweden was re-elected to another four-year term on the IOC’s executive board.
Two new members were elected Monday to the IOC: Nenad Lalovic of Serbia, head of wrestling’s world governing body, and Diagna Ndiaye, president of Senegal’s national Olympic committee.
