Reinhard Grindel resigns form UEFA, FIFA ruling committees

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German soccer official Reinhard Grindel has resigned as a UEFA vice president and as a member of the FIFA Council, one week after being forced out as president of his national federation.

Grindel said Wednesday he wanted to protect the European soccer body’s reputation and confirmed his decision in a letter to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.

The former lawmaker and journalist had come under growing pressure at home for missteps leading the German soccer federation in the past year.

Grindel resigned after reports of earning undeclared income of 78,000 euros ($87,000) from a media subsidiary. He also acknowledged accepting a luxury watch gift from a Ukrainian colleague at UEFA.

UEFA’s executive committee can decide how to replace Grindel — a regular public critic of FIFA’s leadership — at a May 29 meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan.

An interim replacement could be picked to help represent European soccer when FIFA’s ruling committee meets on June 3 in Paris. FIFA is preparing to decide on a Club World Cup expansion plan which UEFA has resisted.

UEFA’s next scheduled election meeting to formally replace Grindel is in 11 months in Amsterdam.