Embattled Fifa president Sepp Blatter has announced his resignation just four days after he was re-elected for a fifth term, citing the need for a "profound overhaul" of football's governing body.
Blatter, who has served as Fifa president for 17 years, said an extraordinary congress would be held at the earliest opportunity to elect his successor, most probably between December this year and March 2016.
"While I have a mandate from the membership of Fifa, I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of football – the fans, the players, the clubs, the people who live, breathe and love football as much as we all do at Fifa," he said at a press conference at Fifa's Zurich HQ.
According to AFP, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who was Blatter's sole opponent in last week's vote, will stand in the forthcoming election.
The Swiss president has been under enormous pressure to resign since Fifa was engulfed in scandal last week, with the launch of a US investigation into millions of dollars worth of bribes involving 14 people, including top Fifa officials.
Blatter's resignation now raises questions about the allocation of the forthcoming two World Cups, scheduled to take place in Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022 respectively.
The chairman of the English FA, Greg Dyke, said of Blatter's resignation: "At long last we can sort out Fifa. We can go back to looking at those two World Cups. If I were Qatar right now I wouldn't be feeling very comfortable."
Swiss authorities raided Fifa's HQ last week after launching a separate investigation into alleged money laundering in the bidding process for the tournaments.
The Swiss attorney general confirmed today that Blatter is not under investigation by the Swiss authorities and that his resignation would have no impact on the proceedings.
Michel Platini, the head of Uefa who told Blatter to resign before last week's election and is now one of the favourites to replace him, said: "It was a difficult decision. A brave decision. The right decision."
In his comments, Blatter said that Fifa would have to undergo "deep-rooted structural change" to deal with the aftermath of its most recent corruption scandal. He called for the size of the body's executive committee to be limited and said committee members should have limits on the terms they serve.
Blatter nominated the head of Fifa's audit and compliance committee, Domenico Scala, to oversee the implementation of the reforms. Scala said that "nothing will be off the table" when considering reforms to the structure and organisation of Fifa.
The decision comes hours after Blatter's right-hand man, Fifa general secretary Jérôme Valcke, was potentially implicated in what the US authorities believe was a $10m (€9.1m) bribe to secure additional votes for South Africa's successful bid to host the 2010 World Cup.
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