Key dates in career of FIFA President Sepp Blatter
A look at some of the key dates in the career of FIFA President Sepp Blatter:
___
March 10, 1936 — Born in Visp, Switzerland.
1948-1971 — Player in Swiss amateur league.
1956 — Becomes member of Swiss Association of Sportswriters.
1959-1964 — Public relations official for tourism in the canton of Valais.
1964-1966 — Secretary general, Swiss Ice Hockey Federation.
1968-1975 — Director at watch company Longines S.A.
1975-1981 — FIFA technical director.
1981-1998 — FIFA general secretary.
1998 — Elected FIFA president.
2002 — Blatter accused of financial mismanagement by FIFA executive committee members. Criminal complaint filed against Blatter with Swiss prosecutors comes to nothing after Blatter is re-elected by beating Issa Hayatou of Cameroon in a vote.
2007 — Re-elected unopposed.
2011 — Re-elected unopposed after challenger Mohamed bin Hammam, a former ally, withdrew before being suspended by FIFA over bribery allegations.
May 29, 2015 — Reneging on pledge not to stand again, re-elected for fifth term by beating Prince Ali bin al-Hussein.
June 2 — Announces resignation plans as pressure mounts over escalating criminal investigations.
July 20 — Exit date set for Feb. 26, when the presidential election is due to be held.
Sept. 24 — Uses in-house FIFA magazine to say the governing body will support U.S. and Swiss investigations "no matter how close to home those investigations get."
Sept. 25 — Interrogated by Swiss federal police over alleged criminal use of FIFA money as office is searched and data is seized.
Oct. 8 — Suspended for 90 days by the FIFA ethics committee.