could hang on hang on for as long as possible already he had outstayed his welcome and that fifth election was something to look back and say look at the support he has always had incredible support, but externally the net was closing in. >> and the general saying and other people saying world cups are fraud. we are reaching the top of the hour here on al jazeera. i am going to introduce those people who are tuning there to our programming here on al jazeera to the extraordinary news that sepp blatter the president of fifa football world governing body has said many the last few minutes that he is to quit. only four days after he was reeffect willed for a fifth term winning 133 out of 209 votes. he says that is it. where going. and there has been as our sports correspondent has reported a number of arrests the fact that the fbi has got

involved and saying look, this is just the start of it all, blatter himself saying there is no way that he is involved and then earlier on today, within the last 24 hours we hear suggestions that 10 million pounds was given to the north american and caribbean footballing federations. no blatter himself but the man considers as his number two, he is to quit a bit of information from me as we head back to our sports correspondents. there will be a new election, a new presidential election, sometime between december of this year, and march of next year. where he was talking about the reasons why he would quit we knew there would be a prez conference, we weren't sure it was going to be --

unlikely it would be as sensational as this. >> well, we have waited to long for this day but he was in such a corner at the end of it, john voling is an extremely important man. he is the secretary general yes, effectively the number 2. he is an enforcer, he has huge sway. >> john voelker he has been a man that is absolutely vital for fifa, for instance, voelker said you better take this away. and when he has been implicated in this, with the south african alleged bribe and the $10 million suddenly we are in a position, how can he defend that. >> yeah. >> his position, blatter became untenable. >> let's listen to sepp blatter within the last 15 minutes or so, the president

the newly elected president of world governing body, has this to say. >> although the members of fifa have given me the new mandate, re-elected me president. this mandate does not seem to be supported by everybody in the world of football. supporters clubs players. those whoa inspire life in football. not just as we do as fifa. >> and this is why,ly call extraordinary congress and put a disposal my function. lit be held as soon as

possible. i whether continue to exercise my function as president of fifa until the new elections will be held. >> and we understand those new election will be between december at the end of this year and march of next year. apparently telling all members of the different federations that voted for him, just four days ago that that was it, he was quitting, lee wellings with us still he is trying to make out isn't he, i just have had enough of this but it is nothing of the sort. he has been forced out. >> after the last few days he couldn't carry on, many would say how can he carry on after what we saw in 2011. how can he carry on when we saw the report from mr. garcia. he did and it's that suborn

streak, and you are right, it is in this situation -- where he has some degree of control, i am going to help football, i am going to make sure there's a nice fair election now between people who can take fifa forward almost as if he is in an ambassador role. he had nowhere to go, and once we had seen the level of actually outright laws we saw from fifa. >> you have to think it was that rather than the fbi saying we will arrest all these people, the business involving jack warner, from trinidad the statement that there would be more ares or certainly this is not the end of it, you have to think that all of that he knew when he stood for reelects, now something bigger physical bribe, direction of that payment alleged bribe the direction of that payment the personnel involved he knew that it was -- well, the castle was crumbling. >> yeah, it is about what he knew how could he not know

about levels of money that were so important. the other thing is at the very at least, it was incredible amounts of negligence to have people like jack warner handling the funds. how can he handle it. what did it somewhere to do with him? he is the head of the concacaf region. but blatter would have carried on with that, it is as you say, it is more the fact that -- the spotlight was so much on him. he would have had to have known what he was doing. he denied he had any situation that we already saw a letter, directed to him. >> in terms of the way the investigation is going are we hearing any more? it's not just them, it is the swiss authorities as well, be uh are they saying look, we plan to do something soon. >> yes, of course. no doubt, this was just the start. and it isn't just football as well. they are looking at offshore investments. they are looking at a wider

picture, and if i family members is just part of that, it seems sometimes that the world revolves around football. >> a business to them. >> it is just a business to them, and that's how football likes to see it. all the things that have fifa has done wrong, part of the reason they had so much support, is the amount of money he made for the 209 associations. they all constantly wanted to vote for him because he was making a lot of money whether it was legal or not is another matter. >> give you can f million to build a new football stadium whether that was built is something that a lot of people have questioned, etc. >> yeah. >> and they did good -- that's the thing fifa has done a lot of good work as well and you feel for some of the people involved in these projects. when constantly, the focus and the spotlight comes on to mr. blatter.

do you think some of the other associations that were not sup effort proking him europe's governing body, do you think the talk there's been in the papers on the t. v. over the last four days, knife days, that there could be a boycott of the world cup? because then the sponsors would get twitchy? they may be thinking hang on this might be serious? >> no, i don't think that's the case. i don't think lit happen. i think it is an easy thought to have that europe is in something better, and europe is closing in, but that's not the case at all. because actually, as many as 18 certainly as many as ten. european nations voted for mr. blatter and a big one, of course, is russia, so it isn't like europe is all in this together. so i think that area of it, and the thought there might be a boycott and that was the pressure i think it was there, but it wasn't as big as what we have seeing how did this happen, and what did

you know about it, because mr. blatter had been there for 40 years. let's have a look back at his incredible life after fifa that is coming to an end. >> football, is stronger than anybody else, anybody in any other movement in the word. his career spans 40 years. the last 17 of them as president, the last four years the most turbulent in fifa's history. but better known as sepp, he won't be president when he reaches the age of 80 next year, he was technical director before the retiring helped him to the top job in 1998. under blatter the finances flourished building up a surplus of over $1 billion. >> i did bring back the fifa. >> but his own goals made him

infamous. remarks about female footballers needing shorter shorts. and an al jazeera interview. >> if the -- when it happened and if it is in the lead, they were they have to make this and then they come, to a solution, and what would they say? they bring two people together and to shake hands. >> he is remarkable survival instincts in death political manuring often involve add u-turn, after years of personally resisting it. but it is the corruption that meant around half of his committee were exposed and disgraced for this overshadowed his presidency. >> the dream is now a reality. and the african population are not only the south african, the whole continent they believe in this. >> blatter helped take the world cup to africa, but there has been allegations of wrongdoing after the rewarding of the tournament to are asia, and particularly

2022 to qatar. >> but it's been the subject of damaging and unresolved investigations. he was re-elected for a fourth time in a one man race in 2011, when presidential rival was found guilty of corruption. and his popularity among football administrators across the globe particularly africa, has never been in doubt. but that popularity never appeared to extend to football fans. so will football be better off without him in charge? finally, we are about to find out. lee welks, al jazeera. >> well, lee a long time in politics four days is a long time in football. this time last week, we were talking about thens thats of prince alley of jordan, the only other candidate standing perhaps causing a upset unlikely. he would be an obvious candidate to stand again but of course there are others in the frame as well. >> there are. you can say in a way that prince ali might deserve it because he fought a very good

election none of the right things at the point he lost. he was made gracious in defeat, but offers what he could do. this were times in that interview you thought are you the man to lead football into a new era or have you been put that by others. now michelle was the man that was meant to take over, blatter -- that's why they poison between them, blatter and pa tyini. he said he wouldn't stand for this election, i am not sure why. maybe he was waiting for this. >> maybe. will he now be tempted? because the relationship comes into this, will there be a new candidate in france.

at some stage let's look at other people coming too. a woman's world cup can is about to start. when is the female president of fifa going to happen. >> let's not talk about that necessarily today what we can talk about is the major candidates. prince ali, how did he want to change. >> as he puts himself in the frame, how did he want to change, of course the president of uefa, famous footballer himself. european power house. particular his plans. >> he won't reveal hill fuzz plans until he says if and when i want this, and in a way it kit credits him if he says hey i was here all along, now blatser out and i'm been so messy i can stand and here is my ideas. that doesn't make him look like a brave man that makes it look almost slightly snide. and actually, he has his own problems, for instance. the european champion next

year, 24 teams you can call that a disgrace, why did they go to 24? because they knew it would make more money. football is always about money these days and michelle has answering on that too. prince ali, when i spoke to him -- >> there's a difference between wanting to be a successful business model and bringing more many uninto your organization, and being greedy about a lot of things and indunging yourself in corrupt practices. those are two totally different things. if he wants to expand and make more money, that isn't necessarily in the same court at all. on the same playing field at all. >> blatter would have have cause that's all he wanted to do. he would say he wanted football to be successful. h ecan point to football changing and being successful. it is just that so much was corrupt. and so much happened under his watch. but will it be that

different? he finds out how hard this is another example don't we agree that goal line technology has become a good thing? it is something that is widely accepted. ten you can't just march into fifa and it is all fine and good although in many ways he is a stronger candidate. >> this is about corruption, or allegations of corruption, thank you very much, stay with us, of course we are going to the united states where the fbi and other law enforcement agencies are becoming involved in this, and we talk to tom ackerman in washington, d.c. this has been a little bit like a house of cards tumbling down very quickly are you getting any word from those people? about what they have heard. >> well, remember that the investigation did not implicate blatter personally. although a lot of people surrounding him and very close to him so in that respect, there isn't that much kind of much of a rep precushion or that kind of

an ex-coe here but obviously peer here do sense or did sense that there was a pervasive sense of corruption. and that was reflected by the position of and u.s. soccer federation it's chairman, had been an early proponent even though the u.s. had voted four times for blatter in previous elections they had come out early for prince ali his principal contender in the election, which of course he lost just last week. so in that respect, this is a vindication for the u.s. soccer federation as well as the canadian soccer federation. it is also interesting that in those people who are defending blatter after these indictments came down includes his daughter had prominently con dennedded that this was an act of vengeance against blatter

because the united states had been -- had lost it's business for the world cup and of course, the united states which is never been a world power in football, in global football, at least rejected that contention. also another interesting as possibility a central figure, an american, who actually turned basically states evidence and early intomorrowing on those people who were indicted last week, and so there is definitely an american role involved and of course the united states justice department, which chose at a crucial moment just last week when the executive meeting to come down with these indictments and these arrests. >> yeah.

>> chuck blazer, man turned whistle blower, a man who apparently wore a wire or recording device after agrees to cooperate with u.s. authorities when he was having a meeting with fifa. where is he now? whether does he tut this investigation. >> well, he was among those who are indicted but his arrests was under seal for i believe at least a couple of years. so he was providing evidence on past misporchs or past misdoings within fifa, although he was forced to step aside precisely because of his flagrant excesses if not violations of law. so blazer is one of those people who is although he is presumably not going to be prosecuted to the ebb tent that the others, he is well is one of the accused. >> hey tom, thank you very

much indeed i wonder if we will get any more reaction. still with us, we will keep an eye on that, see if anything happening there. what was it sepp blatter said just a couple of days ago to swiss t.v., if step down, if i step down that would be recognizing i had done something wrong. >> yes and that's why the last few hours have been so crucial remind everybody why why. >> well, the situation we are in denying that any senior officials including had anything to do with it. >> he being the secretary general. >> and alleged $10 million bribe around the southar can world cup. money that was paid through jack warner, so there was plenty that is fishy about this, it is mentioned on page 82 of 164 pages. now, very quickly it became clear that he had been

written to over this subject, and did notaability pit p so where does that lead him? is he is so close that would voelker implicate i know nothing about this, my close number two it became untenable, what we don't know is whether he was just being defiant by saying i stay. >> south africa 2010. brazil, 2014. russia to come, 2018, qatar to come 2022. that have been allegations made against the bidding processes for each of those world cups as well. there have and that's why five the has been in an absolutely mess for many years. you go back to the former president, now we are going back to before 1998, completely discredited. richard teixeira, who h citizenon in law. ten many people who are in their eight's in places like brazil being investigated

over what happened in preif use regimes. remember the international committee, not to this extent, had big problems with corrupt. salt lake city they sorted it out p. >> they made eight great deal more transparent. >> they did. and fifa claims to have sorted it out. >> if you look at the reputation, which and important, people just don't feel that it would be sorted out until sepp blatter goes. you mention sponsors. you have to be careful because the presumption is made that sponsors have the right morals, which as opposed to need to make money. sepp blatter went. >> yes lee, thank you we may come back in just a moment, but before all of this this shock announcement 79-year-old sepp blatter had appeared to hold on to football's top job anywhere in the world a bit of background on him he joins

fifa 40 years ago. first as a technical director, then as the secretary general became president in 1998, and has held on to that job ever since. several of his elections have been controversial to say the at least. something that has never been proven. and he is seen as we were talking as well about a massive expansion in revenues primarily through t. v. and advertising rights for the world cup. actively involved in bringing the world cup to new regions such as africa and to the middle east. we heard from dominica, and he talks about other things they will be pursuing. >> the structure of the committee and it's members are at the core of the

current issues that fifa is facing. current vents only has my determination to drive this forward. many of the issues that have been raised in the past, related to the actions of individuals in order to ensure that those who represent fifa, of the highest integrity. fifa will seek to implement fifa driven integrity checks for all executive committee members. such a reform was proposed by the governance committee but was rehave correct bed i the confederations. today, these checks to which these members belong. this must change. confederations actions must be consistent with their speech. why fifa operates with all applicable laws and international accounting standards. if i family members recognize that is many have questions

of transparency to address specific calls fifa will seek to publicize the conversation of the president and the executive committee members and will propose term limits for the president and the executive committee members. >> and those boards coming after the announcement by sepp blatter for the last five days the new president of fifa, now the man who says enough is enough. in the face of a massive corruption scandal involving u.s. and swiss crime fighting or authorities with the suggestion from those people that what we have seen so far, with a number of indictments was just the start. so accept is to go, there will be an election of the new governing body, sometime between december the end of this year, and march at the end -- at the beginning of next year, sepp blatter defiant to tend, even though he says he is going saying all i wanted to do was reform

this organization, and i fell you what, i will help you get it right next time, with my successor. >> let's bring you other news now, iraq prime minister has asked more help to fight the islamic state of iraq. isil's territory stretches now across vast areas of country side. over the border into northwestern iraq. the bridge controlled the city for more than a year, and has extended to anbar province. ramadi being strategically important, as it connects back dad to the borders. they have been talking paris. listening to it all. at least as much as we could mohamed who has been following all of these twists and turns.

if at the end of the day they all come out and say listen, we need more help, but anybody who is trying to defeat a group such as isil needs as much help as it can get, what is being offered. >> well, david that's the real question and even though at the end of this conference today, you had the americans and the french, saying that they were remaining committed to fighting isil, that they were going to streamline the weapons delivery system to the iraqi army, on the ground there in iraq, the fight is still very much raging. isil is still advancing. and so even though there was some tension leading up to this frustration expressed be i the french, frustration expressed by the u.s., that iraqi prime minister wasn't doing enough to quell sectarian tensions that he wasn't doing enough to ameliorate rising sunni resentment towards his government. when all was said and done today, everybody came out.

they put on the bravest face possible and they said that they were winning the fight and that they were committed to keep winning the fightin' but right now bewould like to take your to our report, and how complicated of a day it was. >> in iraq, the bullets and bombs continue. fighting so severe, it looks nowhere near over. the the hot desert landscape a tangled web of militaries and militias. all trying to stop two advance of isil. in paris a stark juxtaposition. in this setting diplomates desperate to find a solution for iraq. >> the international community, it has to support us it had to destroy isil. >> the foreign minister has recently called the shocking gain as failure on the part of the world by the end of

the day however common ground had been found. >> two exchanges we have had have allowed us to reaffirm our unity and our common determination. >> the hand shakes meant to show how resolute they remain. >> this will be, as we said, a long campaign, but we will succeed if we remain united, determined and focused. and we are. >> on the table now an anbar action plan that promises to streamline the delivery of weapons and vanquish isil for good. >> syria participanting at this conference, called again for a political transition in syria, and said if isil continues to take over more territory, it will become more dangerous for iraq and the region as a whole. >> a region confronted be i a new kind of turmoil and a threat the likes of which

they have never seen before. >> so mohamed they say we will reaffirm our unity all sorts of other diplomatic, blah blah blah. it doesn't mean anything at all unless things change, and the one thing that the iraqis are saying is we need more weapons any sign of that coming in. >> well, there were promises made today that weapons would be delivered, the u.s. in particular said that antitank missiles would be delivered soon to iraq the fight on the ground is as violent as it has ever been. there was a sense of real humiliation, leading into this meeting because the coalition forces certainly didn't think that ramadi would fall a strategic a city as ramadi is, that that would fall in the last two weeks

the way that it did. and coming into the conference the french foreign minister has said on many occasions there cannot be a military solution in iraq without a political solution. and that doesn't look like it is going to happen any time soon. despite the fact that they said today that reforms had been made. and that the political process there would be more inclusive, on the ground, there in the iraq, that just isn't the case. and people are waiting to see these promises delivered on. two promise of weapons for the iraqi army. but also the promise for inclusion of the resentful sunnies it is a very big mess and it doesn't look like it is going to get any better. >> thank you live for us in paris, while all of that was going on, there were reports that 17 fighters have been killed in she