Recently, Swiss national and 17-year president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Sepp Blatter resigned from his post amid allegation of federal corruption and financial scandals.

I am not a fan of sports, and until they add binge-watching Netflix to the wide world of athletics, I doubt I ever will be. I do, however, relish in honesty, adore fair play and get irrationally angry whenever the latter characteristics are not adhered to.  

So what does Blatter’s resignation mean, and from where do the allegations stem?

For most Americans, football refers to the high school, college and National Football League (NFL) pastime of ‘throwing the pigskin.’ For the rest of the world, however, football denotes shin guards, non-metallic shoes and a penalty should your hands meet the ball.

Let me break it down. International athletic congregations like the World Cup bank on a variety of factors, a large one – surprise, surprise – is votes. Due to the heavy influence of voting members, bribes and trans-national back alley deals are an unfortunate byproduct, which is where the 2015 FIFA Woman’s Cup is now. It is crucial to note that not all exploitation in monetary.

For example, BBC News reported statistics from the International Trades Union Confederation that estimated the death toll for labors working in Qatar (the next country to host FIFA) at about 1,800 within three years.

Blatter’s resignation marks a turning point in the evaluation of global organizations, and it equates to the end of the corruption and the rapid decline of exploitation.

So, how did it all start?

Investigative reporter Andrew Jennings ignited the fire with a series of probing works including “FOUL! The Secret World of FIFA” Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals,” and “Omertá: Sepp Blatter’s FIFA Organised Crime Family.”

From there, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stepped in, and in a Washington Post article, Jennings remembers thinking, “’Right, let’s just level the playing field a bit.’”

The FBI, after receiving financial reports from Jennings found shadowy, multi-million dollar charges, the article said.   

Additionally, ESPNFC reported that American investigators alleged that South Africa wired 10 million dollars to former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner in return for consideration of the 2010 World Cup.   

Now, let’s take a step back and appreciate the irony of the investigation into FIFA.

Of the 7 billion people in the world, about 3.2 billion watched at least a minute of the 2010 World Cup, according to KantarSport, a leading specialist sports and entertainment research company based of the United Kingdom. Of those 3.2 billion only about 90 million viewers were in the United States. 

The United States FBI– representing only about 9 percent of the viewers – had to step in for genuine action to take place.

Blatter’s resignation also means a new president, a president with new policies, and one with whom the international community can lay their trust.  

Right now, however, Mr. Blatter is still a large part of the picture, as ‘members must be given at least four months’ notice for a meeting to elect the president, according to FIFA’s rules.

In a New York Times article, Domenico Scala, the independent chair of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee, said the probable window for an election is between December 2015 and March 2016, which is not nearly soon enough, but I’ll take it.

The future of FIFA is unclear, that is to say, unclear in terms of an emerging presidency. When looking at corruption and financial scandal, however, it pleases me beyond measure to report the success of an ongoing investigation to rid the football world of humiliation, indignity, bribery and dishonor.