Chuck Blazer, the general secretary of the governing body for international soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean, said Thursday that he will depart the organization at the end of the year.
Blazer will remain a member of the executive committee of FIFA, soccer's international governing body, but he decided after 21 years at CONCACAF he wanted a change of scenery.
“I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to,” Blazer said in a phone interview.
Blazer, 66, helped establish and expand the Gold Cup, the biennial tournament for the confederation, as well as the CONCACAF Champions League tournament, the region’s premier competition for club soccer.
He made waves in world soccer this year when he accused Jack Warner, CONCACAF's president and a vice president of FIFA, of handing out bribes during the election campaign for FIFA's presidency. Warner, who denied wrongdoing in the incident, no longer holds either post.
The choice of Warner’s successor has sparked a court fight in the Bahamas, where CONCACAF is incorporated, though Blazer said the ongoing battle did not influence his decision to leave the organization.
