AFP, ZURICH: African football leader Issa Hayatou took temporary charge of FIFA on Thursday after Sepp Blatter was “relieved of his duties” because of his 90-day suspension, the world governing body have announced.
Hayatou, 69, is president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and takes over as senior vice president of FIFA even though he has a troubled past. “Joseph S. Blatter was relieved of all his duties as FIFA president” after the move by the FIFA ethics committee to suspend him for 90 days because he is under criminal investigation by Swiss prosecutors, FIFA said. Hayatou, from Cameroon, heads FIFA’s crucial finance committee and once stood against Blatter for the presidency, although until the recent corruption storm, he had been a close ally.