Bye-bye Blatter: Latin America Relieved over Departure

Latin American football chiefs breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday with Sepp Blatter’s long-awaited resignation as president of FIFA.

While the scandal, which broke six days ago with the arrest of several of the body’s top officials by Swiss police, shook the football world as a whole, it shone a light more particularly on corruption in Latin America and the Caribbean, with some of the the most high profile people implicated being nationals of the region.

Top-ranking figures there have expressed hope that the move will start a refreshing and cleansing process for the beautiful game.

"This is what worldwide football was asking for," said Harold Mayne-Nicholls, former president of the Chilean football federation. "Greater transparency, greater democracy in decision-making are needed."

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Wilmar Valdez meanwhile, vice president of Conmebol, the Latin American Football Association, revealed the trauma felt by all involved in the game, both at the breaking of the scandal, and of the resignation of Blatter, the caption of the wayward ship.

"This is a shock for global football. What we were convinced of was that in the short or long term the presidency of Blatter was not going to resist. FIFA needed changes and now we have to see how to put the pieces back together."

Brazilian football legend Pele, who had previously voiced his support for Blatter, said to the BBC, " I believe that everything in life changes … It is important to count on honest people. To organize anything that you need, you’ve got to have good people."

Several countries have already started legal actions against their top-ranking football officials, in order to clean up the now-muddied face of football once and for all.

Costa Rica led the way in opening investigations against Eduardo Li, after the chief was detained in Zurich, while Brazil followed suit with charges against former boss of the Brazilian football confederation, Ricardo Teixeira, for crimes including money laundering and tax evasion. Argentine prosecutors have also brought charges against businessmen linked to the fiasco.

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