Brazil's Teixeira resigns from FIFA

Brazil's corruption-tainted former football boss Ricardo Teixeira has resigned from the FIFA Executive Committee a week after stepping down as head of his country's football federation. Teixeira, who had served as a member of world football's governing body since 1994, said his resignation was "irrevocable," in a letter to the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) published on its website. "I have worked with determination to defend the interests of football on our continent and to elevate football in the international context," he said. Teixeira has also resigned from the committee organizing the 2014 World Cup at a time when Brazil is struggling to prepare to host the world's most-watched sporting event. His 22-year stewardship of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) was marred by controversy, with repeated calls for his resignation and allegations of irregularities in Brazil and abroad. Teixeira, 64, allegedly took millions of dollars worth of bribes in the 1990s from the Switzerland-based ISL sports marketing company that later went bankrupt. He was also accused of diverting public funds from a friendly match played by Brazil in 2008.