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Head of African football to serve as FIFA president

08 October 2015 18:20 (UTC +04:00)

FIFA issued a statement Thursday regarding decisions by its Independent Ethics Committee regarding Blatter.

"Blatter, for the duration of the 90-day ban, is not allowed to represent FIFA in any capacity, act on the organisation’s behalf, or communicate to media or other stakeholders as a FIFA representative," FIFA said.

According to FIFA statutes, Hayatou, as the longest-serving vice president on FIFA’s Executive Committee, will serve as acting president of FIFA.

The African football leader Hayatou, 69, will not run to become FIFA president, of which the election will be held on Feb. 26. According to the statement, Hayatou stressed that he took over the post in an interim capacity. Issa Hayatou, from Cameroon, was a mid-distance runner.

However, Hayatou is considered a controversial choice for president of FIFA as he was involved in a FIFA kickbacks scandal in 2011.

The FIFA Ethics Committee on Thursday has provisionally banned several world football officials including the FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter, the UEFA president and the FIFA vice president Michel Platini for 90 days. The committee may extend the duration of the bans for an additional period not exceeding 45 days.

Swiss prosecutors opened criminal proceedings against Blatter on Sept. 25 on suspicion of "criminal mismanagement" as well as on suspicion of "misappropriation of funds”.

Blatter, 79, is suspected of violating his “fiduciary duties” and acting “against the interests of FIFA”.

Blatter is also suspected of making a “disloyal payment” of 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million) to UEFA's Platini in February 2011. This payment, “at the expense of FIFA”, was allegedly for work performed between January 1999 and June 2002.

Swiss police arrested seven FIFA officials, including two vice presidents, on corruption charges in May at the request of U.S. authorities, who later issued indictments against seven other people in the case.

Following claims of corruption, Blatter, who has always denied any wrongdoing, announced his decision to step down on June 2, just after he was re-elected president for a fifth consecutive term. He is due to leave office on Feb. 26.