Coca-Cola and McDonald’s call for FIFA president Sepp Blatter to resign immediately

Despite months of controversy and scandal in the wake of many FIFA executives and significant figures in world football being arrested, President Sepp Blatter is still the man in charge of the world’s governing football organization. He’s preparing to relinquish his seat after special elections that are supposed to be held soon -- but if FIFA’s sponsors have their way, he won’t make it to those elections:

Coca-Cola and McDonald’s are two of the biggest names in their respective industries, and have the ability to put significant financial pressure on FIFA to have their demands answered. They are the first major sponsors to make such a request public, but they likely won’t be the last -- such demands often start as a trickle before becoming much more widespread.

McDonald’s believes that it is “in the best interests of the game” to have Blatter resign, while Coke were a little more firm in their statement:

The demands come in the wake of a scandal seemingly centered around the decision to award Qatar the 2022 World Cup, though parts of the investigations carried out by federal authorities in both Switzerland -- where FIFA has its headquarters -- and the United States date back much further. Those investigations lead to a wave of arrests in late May, just before FIFA’s congressional body was due to hold their regular presidential elections in Switzerland. Blatter was re-elected despite the controversy, though declared just days later that he would step down in order to hold special elections to decide a new president, and also announced plans to form a reform project for the beleaguered organization.

FIFA’s major sponsors have largely stayed quiet in the following months, but now that Coca-Cola and McDonald’s have made their feelings public, this could unravel very quickly.

UPDATE: Blatter’s lawyer has responded, and he doesn’t seem to care very much.