FIFA crisis: Sepp Blatter rejects Michel Platini request to quit
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Updated 28/05/2015 at 17:12 GMT
FIFA president Sepp Blatter says he will not quit despite UEFA president Michel Platini telling him he must go for the good of the game.
UEFA President Michel Platini addresses a news conference after a UEFA meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, May 28, 2015
Image credit: Reuters
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LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- Sepp Blatter holds ‘crisis meeting’ of FIFA confederations
- Blatter refuses to accept responsibility for FIFA crisis
- Blatter rejects calls to quit from UEFA president Michel Platini
- UEFA will not boycott presidential election on Friday, will throw support behind Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein
- David Gill will not take seat as UEFA representative on FIFA executive committee if Blatter wins election
- Platini suggests UEFA "may consider" withdrawing teams from World Cups if Blatter is re-elected
- Israel fears being a casualty of Blatter re-election with vote on their status looming
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UEFA President Michel Platini smiles at his arrival for a meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, May 28, 2015.
Image credit: Reuters
Blatter called for Thursday's emergency meeting of FIFA confederations over the corruption scandal that threatens to bring the game’s governing body crashing down ahead of their annual congress in Zurich.
UEFA president Michel Platini has revealed he personally asked Blatter to resign on Thursday, but the FIFA chief refused.
“This morning I took the car and went to see the FIFA president," Platini told a news conference in Zurich. "I told him Sepp, man to man, face to face..Leave FIFA.
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Activists from advocacy group Avaaz demonstrate near the Hallenstadion, where the 65th FIFA Congress will take place, in Zurich, Switzerland, May 28, 2015
Image credit: Reuters
"I asking you to leave FIFA - to step down because you are giving FIFA a terrible image.
"It's not easy to tell a friend that he must leave. I'm saying this with sadness, with tears in my eyes... There have been too many scandals."
Platini has suggested that UEFA would be prepared to boycott a World Cup in order to force change at FIFA.
According to the former Juventus and France player, Blatter replied: "It's too late. I can't all of a sudden leave when congress starts this afternoon."
But Blatter later expanded on his ambition to win a fifth term as FIFA president on Friday despite the developing scandal enveloping his organisation.
In addressing the FIFA annual congress, Blatter said: "We cannot allow the reputation of FIFA to be dragged through the mud any longer,” said Blatter. "It has to stop here and now.
"The events of yesterday have cast a long shadow over football, and over this week’s Congress.
"The actions of individuals, if proven, bring shame and humiliation on football and demand reaction from us all.”
UEFA is apparently the only football association which asked Blatter to postpone the presidential election, but has pledged to participate in the congress on Friday and support its preferred candidate, Prince Ali.
However, former Manchester United chief executive David Gill has said he will not take up his place as FIFA vice-president if Blatter does win the vote.
“David Gill stood up and said he won’t take up his seat, that was the big thing," said Delaney. "I think it was very brave and very honest of him and there was a good round of applause, people thought ‘that’s a man of honour’. From his own personal perspective he doesn’t want to serve under Blatter and you have to respect that position.
“There wasn’t a vote taken but Michel Platini will tell you UEFA is unified, whether all 53 transfer their votes over I don’t know, I think one or two will be lost along the way.”
Blatter had released a statement on Thursday welcoming the probe into widespread corruption at football's governing body, but has yet to be seen publicly since the dawn raids in Switzerland.
Seven football officials were arrested in Zurich on Wednesday and detained pending extradition to the United States over suspected corruption at FIFA, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FCOJ) said in a statement.
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British Football Association chairman Greg Dyke (C) arrives for a meeting of the UEFA in Zurich, Switzerland, May 28,
Image credit: Reuters
14 people have been charged by the US authorities with racketeering, fraud and money laundering.
The New York Times said they were high-ranking FIFA officials and were in Switzerland for the FIFA Congress where incumbent Mr Blatter faces a challenge from Jordan's Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein in the presidential election.
The arrests were made by plain-clothed police officers who took room keys from the reception of the five-star Baur Au Lac hotel, where officials were staying, with FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb among those arrested.
The news agency Reuters confirmed that Blatter had met FIFA's six confederations:
The FIFA emergency committee rarely meets and two of its nominated members Jeffrey Webb, the president of CONCACAF and Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay, the South American confederation president, were not present as they were among those detained on Wednesday. A FIFA representative said: "There was a meeting today with the president and the representatives from the confederations to discuss the current situation.
The British Prime Minister David Cameron - at the forefront of England's unsuccessful bid in 2010 to stage the 2018 World Cup finals that went to Russia - has urged Mr Blatter to step down while appealing to blue chip sponsors to consider their support of FIFA if there is no change.
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David Cameron and Sepp Blatter.
Image credit: Reuters
The UK culture secretary John Whittingdale is urging sponsors to review whether or not they want to be linked with such an organistation.
Visa and Coca Cola have already expressed concerns about the situation.
"This is merely the latest sorry episode which suggests that Fifa is a deeply flawed and corrupt organisation," Mr Whittingdale told the House of Commons on Thursday.
Another line to emerge from Zurich is the situation regarding Israel. Rotem Kamer, chief executive of the Israel Football Association, told Israel's Walla news website on Thursday that Israeli representatives were lobbying several confederations, including UEFA, in Zurich hotels before an expected ballot on the issue at FIFA Congress on Friday.
"Undoubtedly there is a lot of politics going on here, and unfortunately Israel's position is not great," he said. "We are being portrayed as an apartheid state."
Kamer said the confluence of a re-election bid by FIFA President Sepp Blatter and the arrest of seven senior figures in the organisation on US corruption charges was not helping Israel.
"There is no way of knowing which way the vote will go when Blatter is seeking re-election. There is no doubt that he can be pressured, also because of the affair that has just exploded," Kamer said.
"He needs the Arab votes and it could be that to this end, Israel will have to be sacrificed."
Information from the BBC and Reuters
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