Blatter gives up IOC post

Sepp Blatter has given up his role as ex officio member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), seven months before he will be replaced as the head of football's world governing body, FIFA, IOC President Thomas Bach said yesterday.

As head of world football, Blatter holds an executive position on the IOC, and would ordinarily have been re-elected for another eight-year term as a procedural matter at the ongoing IOC Session in Malaysia, along with more than a dozen other members, but would be required to stand down when he leaves the post at the end of February, 2016.

His successor will have to wait for the next election before automatically assuming that IOC role.