Blatter won't attend women's World Cup final

Beleaguered FIFA President Sepp Blatter will not attend the final of the Women's World Cup in Canada, his US lawyer confirmed Tuesday.

"Mr Blatter has informed the organizers that, for personal reasons, he will not attend the women’s World Cup finals in Canada," attorney Richard Cullen said in comments emailed to AFP.

Speculation over whether Blatter would attend Sunday's final has raged ever since the tournament kicked off.

The 79-year-old Blatter announced on June 2 that he would step down from the FIFA presidency at an extraordinary congress to be held between December this year and March 2016.

That decision followed the crisis that engulfed FIFA with 18 people indicted in the United States on football-related corruption charges.

Since then, sources close to Blatter have been reported as saying he was not ruling out the prospect of going back on his decision to resign after receiving messages of support from Asian and African federations.

Blatter's announcement that he planned to step down came just days after he had been re-elected as president.
Source: AFP