FIFA director of communications steps down

Walter De Gregorio, FIFA’s director of communications and public affairs, has resigned his position with immediate effect.

De Gregorio was responsible for conducting FIFA’s initial press conference after a number of officials from world football’s governing body had been arrested in Zurich ahead of last month’s FIFA Congress.

He was also present last week as FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced his intention to stand down amid the corruption scandal engulfing the organisation.

De Gregorio will now leave the position he took up in September 2011 – though it is unclear whether his departure is related to a joke he made at FIFA’s expense during an appearance on the ‘Schawinski’ show in Switzerland earlier this week.

In that show, De Gregorio said: “The Fifa president, secretary general and communications director are all travelling in a car. Who’s driving?”

He then answered: “The police.”

In the statement confirming the resignation of De Gregorio, who will serve as a consultant to FIFA until the end of the year, the organisation’s secretary general Jerome Valcke said: “Walter has worked incredibly hard for the past four years and we are immensely grateful for all he has done.

“I am glad we will be able to continue to draw on his expertise until the end of the year.”