Blatter to miss Women´s World Cup final

FIFA has confirmed that outgoing president Sepp Blatter will not attend the Women’s World Cup final this weekend owing to “commitments in Zurich”.

The president had been expected to be present in Vancouver for the tournament showpiece between United States and the winners of Wednesday’s match between England and Japan.

However, he, along with secretary general Jerome Valcke, will remain in Switzerland rather than travel to Canada as the corruption scandal continues to rock the governing body.

When contact by Perform a FIFA spokesperson said: “Due to their current commitments in Zurich, the FIFA president [Blatter] and the FIFA secretary general [Valcke] will remain at the FIFA headquarters.”

In May, nine FIFA officials were indicted on charges of racketeering conspiracy and corruption in the build-up to the organisation’s presidential election.

Blatter, who was not involved in any of the investigations, subsequently beat Prince Ali bin Al Hussein in the vote to earn a fifth term in office, but announced his decision to step down four days later on June 2.

The 79-year-old will remain in office until an extraordinary congress can be held to find a new president, with the Swiss not ruling out running for election again.