McCain: FIFA Remains to Be Cleaned Up Following Blatter Resignation

US Senator John McCain claims that the resignation of Federation of International Football Association President Sepp Blatter will not clean up international football.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik), Leandra Bernstein — The resignation of Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) President Sepp Blatter will not clean up international football, US Senator John McCain told Sputnik on Tuesday.

“Just because he [Blatter] has resigned, does not mean it [FIFA] has changed” McCain said, referring to US charges against top FIFA officials for large-scale corruption.

Prior to the May 29, 2015 election for president of FIFA, McCain coauthored a letter with US Senator Bob Menendez encouraging the FIFA Congress to reject Blatter’s reelection in light of his continued support for Russia hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The letter was sent five days before the May 27, 2015 raids on a Swiss luxury hotel, resulting in the arrests of seven top FIFA officials on the request by the United States.

“I am glad he [Blatter] is gone,” McCain stated.

The US and Swiss charges of corruption in FIFA’s decisions on future World Cup hosts represent “a scandal of enormous proportions that is not going to go away anything soon,” McCain said.

On Tuesday, Blatter announced his resignation as president of FIFA despite having won the election.

Switzerland launched separate investigation into the selection process of World Cup host countries, particularly Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.