FIFA to elect Sepp Blatter’s replacement on Feb. 26

FIFA’s executive committee has chosen Feb. 26 as the date for the extraordinary Congress in which it will pick a new president.

Sepp Blatter, who in May won re-election to a fifth term as the head of world soccer’s governing body, promised to step down days later in the wake of a corruption investigation by U.S. and Swiss authorities that led to the arrests of nine FIFA officials.

Both probes are continuing and authorities have confirmed that Blatter is among those being investigated.

Blatter promised at the time that he would not run again, a pledge he repeated Monday.

But Blatter said in May that he would stay on to oversee the process of reforming FIFA. And in a 40-minute meeting with reporters in Zurich on Monday, he pressed that point.

“My mission is to make sure that at the end of February, when I come to the end of my career, that FIFA will have started again these reforms and to rebuild the reputation of FIFA,” he said. “This is important to me.”

But Blatter was far less forthcoming about what those reforms might entail. He twice declined to answer questions about a proposal for transparency on executive salaries. Other proposals floated include term limits for top FIFA officials.

As for who will succeed Blatter, the field has yet to begin forming. Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who forced Blatter into a second round of balloting in May, has not said whether he will run again. Another possible candidate would be Michel Platini, the president of the UEFA, the European soccer union, and a Blatter supporter turned detractor.

On Monday, Prince Ali criticized FIFA’s decision to delay the election, a process he said gives Blatter more influence over the process.

“President Blatter’s resignation cannot be dragged out any longer,” he told BBC Sport. “He must leave now. He cannot be permitted to plan his succession and manage this election process. An interim independent leadership must be appointed to administer the process of the elections, in addition to the reforms that are being discussed prior to the elections.”

Multiple federations have already approached Platini and urged him to run, according to published reports.

Candidates must be nominated by Oct. 26, four months before the election. All 209 FIFA member states will vote in the final election next winter.