May 29, 2011: FIFA Presidential Candidate Pulls Out of Race on Day of Ethics Committee Hearing

Mohammed bin Hammam, the Qatari head of the Asian Football Confederation, pulls out of the race to become president of FIFA. His withdrawal means that the incumbent, Sepp Blatter, is unopposed in the election. Both bin Hammam and Blatter face corruption charges and are due to attend an ethics committee meeting today to answer allegations about their alleged involvement in bribery, ahead of the presidential vote in three days’ time. “It saddens me that standing up for the causes that I believed in has come at a great price—the degradation of FIFA’s reputation. This is not what I had in mind for FIFA and this is unacceptable,” says bin Hammam. “I cannot allow the game that I loved to be dragged more and more in the mud because of competition between two individuals. The game itself and the people who love it around the world must come first. It is for this reason that I announce my withdrawal from the presidential election.” [Guardian, 5/28/2011]