BREAKING: Sepp Blatter to Step Down as FIFA President.

Sepp Blatter.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter is to step down FIFA president, but only after the organization's executive committee organizes a fresh vote "for the election of my successor," he said on Tuesday.

Blatter said the election should before the next World Congress in May 2016.

It cannot be held for at least four months, according to FIFA rules, Domenico Scala, chiarman of FIFA's audit and compliance committee, said. 

"The expectation is that this could take place anytime from December of this year to March of next year," he said.

Michel Platini, president of UEFA, European soccer's governing body, has criticized Blatter in the past and told reporters last week that he had asked Blatter to bow out of the elections. 

He was one of the first to react to the announcement: "It was a difficult decision, a brave decision, and the right decision."