FIFA's Blatter will not travel to Women's World Cup final in Canada
ZURICH --
FIFA President Sepp Blatter will not be traveling to Canada for Sunday's Women's World Cup final, FIFA said Tuesday, as criminal investigations into soccer's governing body continue in the United States and Switzerland.
Secretary general Jerome Valcke will also be absent from the biggest event in women's soccer.
FIFA said in a statement that ''due to their current commitments in Zurich, the FIFA President and the FIFA Secretary General will remain at the FIFA Headquarters.''
Traveling to Canada would have taken Blatter to the doorstep of the United States, where he is a target of one of the investigations into soccer corruption. There have been no charges or accusations against Blatter - unlike two of his vice presidents, who remain in custody in Switzerland.
Blatter has presented the trophy to the tournament winners at every women's World Cup since he became president in 1998. Blatter announced plans to quit earlier this month - four days after being elected for a fifth term - under pressure from FIFA sponsors over the escalating criminal investigations.
FIFA's executive committee will set the date for a new presidential election at an emergency meeting on July 20 in Zurich. The vote for a new president by FIFA's 209 member federations is expected in December or January.
The American case alleges bribery in the 2010 World Cup hosting vote and widespread bribery and racketeering implicating senior FIFA officials in organizing competitions in North and South America. Seven men among 14 indicted have been detained in Zurich and face extradition to the United States.
Blatter is a part of the widening investigation, American law enforcement officials have confirmed.
The Swiss probe focuses on possible money laundering and criminal mismanagement at FIFA, mainly in the bidding contests which awarded the 2018 World Cup to Russia and 2022 tournament to Qatar. Switzerland's attorney general, Michael Lauber, has said Blatter is not under suspicion but could be questioned.
Blatter said he would not be a candidate at the extraordinary congress to elect a new president, but appeared to backtrack on that in recent days, reportedly saying: "I have not resigned, I put my mandate in the hands of an extraordinary congress."
An official FIFA statement confirmed the quotes in Swiss newspaper Blick were accurate but added: ''However, they are fully in line with the speech of the president on June 2.''
Domenico Scala, the independent chairman of FIFA's audit and compliance committee, responded by urging Blatter to stick by his decision to quit in the name of reform.
"The times of flirting with the power are definitely gone," he said in a statement. "I call on all concerned - including Mr. Blatter - to endorse in the interest of the reforms unequivocally the announced changing of the guard at the top of FIFA."
Information from FOXSoccer.com's newswire services contributed to this report.
