Key dates in career of FIFA President Sepp Blatter

By foxsports
Published

A look at some of the key dates in the career of FIFA President Sepp Blatter:

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March 10, 1936 - Born in Visp, Switzerland.

1948-1971 - Player in Swiss amateur league.

1956 - Becomes member of Swiss Association of Sportswriters.

1959-1964 - Public relations official for tourism in the canton of Valais.

1964-1966 - Secretary general, Swiss Ice Hockey Federation.

1968-1975 - Director at watch company Longines S.A.

1975-1981 - FIFA technical director.

1981-1998 - FIFA general secretary.

1998 - Elected FIFA president.

2002 - Blatter accused of financial mismanagement by FIFA executive committee members. Criminal complaint filed against Blatter with Swiss prosecutors comes to nothing after Blatter is re-elected by beating Issa Hayatou of Cameroon in a vote.

2007 - Re-elected unopposed.

2011 - Re-elected unopposed after challenger Mohamed bin Hammam, a former ally, withdrew before being suspended by FIFA over bribery allegations.

May 29, 2015 - Reneging on pledge not to stand again, re-elected for fifth term by beating Prince Ali bin al-Hussein.

June 2 - Announces resignation plans as pressure mounts over escalating criminal investigations.

July 20 - Exit date set for Feb. 26, when the presidential election is due to be held.

Sept. 24 - Uses in-house FIFA magazine to say the governing body will support U.S. and Swiss investigations ''no matter how close to home those investigations get.''

Sept. 25 - Interrogated by Swiss federal police over alleged criminal use of FIFA money as office is searched and data is seized.

Oct. 8 - Suspended for 90 days by the FIFA ethics committee.