Sepp Blatter's fate lies in the hands of the Chief Justice of Guam Robert Torres, who has been charged with investigating whether the FIFA President should be suspended.
Torres is a member of the investigatory chamber of the FIFA ethics committee, and will lead the probe into Blatter because rules prevent its chairman, Swiss lawyer Cornel Borbely, investigating a compatriot.
Torres was appointed to his position in Guam - a United States Pacific island territory in Micronesia - in 2008. He was appointed to the FIFA ethics committee in 2013, and previous investigations include that into Chuck Blazer, the former FIFA executive committee member who is now the FBI's chief witness in its football corruption investigation.
Torres takes charge of the most sensitive case in the ethics committee's history, as it considers whether to suspend Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini.
Blatter is the subject of a criminal investigation by Swiss prosecutors, who are examining the circumstances of a £1.3m payment made to Platini in February 2011, for work carried out nine years previously.
Both men have denied wrongdoing, but the severity of the allegations, coming in the midst of the ongoing corruption scandal, has triggered an ethics committee investigation.
The committee has the power to suspend both Blatter and Platini pending a full investigation, a decision that would effectively decapitate FIFA and UEFA, and could end the career of both Blatter and his likely successor.
For Blatter, suspension would be an ignominious end to 40 years at FIFA, as he has already pledged to stand down on 26 February, when his successor will be elected.
Platini's prospects of filling his shoes would also be all but over. The deadline for candidates to enter the election is 26 October, but it is doubtful that anyone under suspension and investigation by the ethics committee would be permitted to stand.
With the stakes so high, the ethics committee is unlikely to rush to judgment. Sources with knowledge of the process have told Sky News it is likely to take "several days, probably weeks".
The final decision on whether to suspend will be taken by German judge Hans Joachim Eckert, chairman of FIFA's adjudicatory chamber, who will rule on a recommendation from Torres in Blatter's case, and Borbely when it comes to Platini.
The key consideration will be whether Blatter or Platini have breached Article 21 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, regarding bribery and corruption.
This states FIFA officials "must not offer, promise, give or accept any undue pecuniary or other advantage for the execution or omission of an act that is related to their official activities".
It also has a lower threshold for offences, that: "Persons bound by this Code must refrain from any activity or behaviour that might give rise to the appearance or suspicion of improper conduct as described in the foregoing sections, or any attempt thereof."
The uncertainty over Blatter's status is paralysing FIFA's ability to carry out its business, and has left him a peripheral figure with deputy general secretary Marcus Kattner and general counsel Marco Villiger in charge of day-to-day affairs, with guidance from external lawyers acting for FIFA but not Blatter.
On Monday Blatter addressed staff in his personal capacity, reading a statement prepared by his lawyers after the legal department prevented him issuing a statement in his capacity as president.
He was then asked to leave and Kattner and Villiger spoke to staff, attempting to calm their anxiety about the status of the organisation.
Until the ethics committee rules, that uncertainty is unlikely to lift.
(Sky News)
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