European Parliament Urges FIFA to Elect Interim President

Joseph Blatter’s successor is expected to be elected on December 16, 2015.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The European Parliament called on the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) to elect an interim president of the international football governing body to replace the outgoing head Joseph Blatter, a press release issued Thursday said.

"Parliament welcomes Joseph Blatter's resignation as FIFA president and calls on the federation to select an interim leader to replace him," the press release read.

Earlier in the day, EU lawmakers passed a nonbinding resolution supporting the FIFA outgoing president's resignation that was delivered just four days following his reelection to the FIFA presidency for a fifth term.

Blatter’s successor is expected to be elected on December 16, 2015, at an emergency meeting of FIFA’s Executive Committee.

FIFA has been mired in a large-scale corruption scandal after the US Department of Justice charged 14 people — including nine senior FIFA officials – with money laundering, wire fraud and racketeering in late May. Seven of the officials were detained in Switzerland on the same day.