Blatter not running for IOC re-election

Outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter is stepping down from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Thomas Bach, the IOC president, told members in Kuala Lumpur on Monday that Blatter had decided against standing for re-election.

A vote for the new FIFA president will be held on February 26 next year, marking the end of the 79-year-old’s reign.

In a letter to the IOC, Blatter said it was inappropriate for him to stand for re-election for an eight-year term given his time at FIFA was ending early in 2016.

Blatter would have had to step down next year regardless, with the age limit for members co-opted between 1966 and 1999 being 80.