FIFA's ethics committee on Sunday ruled that the world soccer organization's president, Sepp Blatter, has no charges to answer, effectively clearing him of allegations of bribery.

Blatter had been accused of knowledge of a corruption scandal and failing to act upon it.

The decision will allow the 75-year-old to seek his fourth term in office since 1988 in the upcoming vote by the FIFA Congress on Wednesday.

Blatter's only opponent in the vote, Mohamed bin Hammam, already withdrew his candidacy earlier on Sunday.

Both Hammam and FIFA Vice President Jack Warner were provisionally suspended by the ethics committee pending an inquiry into alleged bribery charges.

A FIFA report had linked the two to an attempt to bribe officials to vote for Bin Hammam in this bid to challenge Blatter in the upcoming election for the top job in world football.

"The committee concluded that the implicated officials must be temporarily excluded from active participation in football activities," Petrus Damaseb of the ethics committee told reporters at a press conference on Sunday evening.

FIFA insisted, however, that both were regarded as innocent until proven guilty.

Author: Holly Fox (dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Andreas Illmer