FIFA is on the search for a new vice-president after Jack Warner this afternoon confirmed that he wouldn’t be carrying on with his role at the world governing body. For years, the head of CONCACAF has been dogged by corruption allegations and it’s surprising that he’s even lasted this long. You ruffle the English feathers for long enough and it certainly shows that you pay.
The full FIFA statement read as follows:
Jack A Warner has informed FIFA about his resignation from his posts in international football. FIFA regrets the turn of events that have led to Mr Warner’s decision.
His resignation has been accepted by world football’s governing body, and his contribution to international football and to Caribbean football in particular and the Concacaf confederation are appreciated and acknowledged.
Mr Warner is leaving FIFA by his own volition after nearly 30 years of service, having chosen to focus on his important work on behalf of the people and government of Trinidad & Tobago as a cabinet minister and as the chairman of the United National Congress, the major party in his country’s coalition government.
The Fifa executive committee, the FIFA president and the FIFA management thank Mr Warner for his services to Caribbean, Concacaf and international football over his many years devoted to football at both regional and international level, and wish him well for the future.
As a consequence of Mr Warner’s self-determined resignation, all ethics committee procedures against him have been closed and the presumption of innocence is maintained.
The investigation had begun after allegations were made that he and Qatari Mohamed bin Hammam had offered incentives to members of the Caribbean Football Union for votes. People will point to it showing that progress is being made at FIFA but the ethics committee still explained “the presumption of innocence is maintained.” In other words we’ll never find out what was actually going on at FIFA. Now all they need to do is find a way for Qatar to be stripped of the 2022 World Cup and it’ll all be done and dusted.
