ZURICH — A day before he was to relinquish his title as the most powerful man in sports, Sepp Blatter already had his final morning as FIFA president planned. He said he would wake up and dance a little, as he always does (Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” is a favorite). He would monitor the election, he said. But he turned down several offers from friends, journalists and, he said, even a priest, to give him company while his FIFA career was to officially come to a close.

In an interview Thursday, Mr. Blatter, the president of world soccer’s governing body for 18 years and a central cog in its operation for more than four decades, was alternately upbeat and reflective, wistful and whimsical, spiritual and — perhaps most of all — unbowed regarding how he will remembered.

Casually dressed and at ease at a table at Sonnenberg, the restaurant and private club near FIFA’s headquarters that features a FIFA salad on its menu, Mr. Blatter ranged widely as he talked about the scandal that led to his suspension and the arrests of many of his colleagues, as well as who will win Friday’s election to replace him and how his life has changed as he is now just two weeks from his 80th birthday.

“Every day is a fiesta,” said Mr. Blatter, who is currently under criminal investigation by the Swiss authorities for corruption. He added: “I am a happy man. Sometimes sad, yes. But I am a happy man.”