President speaks in Zurich in first public appearance since scandal broke, while North and Central American football federation dismisses executives

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has defiantly vowed to repair the rock-bottom reputation of world football’s governing body, refusing to quit over the worst corruption scandal in its 111-year history.



His stand came as an emotional Uefa president Michel Platini refused to rule out European teams boycotting the World Cup, Fifa’s cash cow, if the 79-year-old prevailed in Friday’s election and as dismayed sponsors further ramped up the pressure.

Despite stiff competition from a succession of crises during his 17-year tenure as president, Blatter admitted that the charges of “rampant, systemic and deep-rooted corruption” presaged by dawn raids in Zurich and revealed by US authorities on Wednesday were “shocking and unprecedented” in their scale.

As Swiss prosecutors began questioning 10 Fifa executive committee members over their role in the controversial vote for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Blatter vowed to ride out the storm in a familiar fashion ahead of Friday’s presidential election.



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“Actions of individuals bring shame and humiliation on football and demand action and change from us all. We can’t allow the reputation of football and Fifa to be dragged through the mud any longer. It has to stop here and now,” he said in his opening address to Fifa’s congress in Zurich.

Appearing in public for the first time since the scandal broke when seven senior Fifa officials were arrested at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, and seven more charged in the US, Blatter appealed to the 209 member associations that will decide his immediate fate.



“I know many people hold me ultimately responsible for the actions and reputations of the global football community, whether it’s a decision for the hosting of a World Cup or a corruption scandal,” said Blatter.

“I cannot monitor everyone all of the time. If people want to do wrong, they will try to hide it. But it must fall to me to be ultimately responsible for the wellbeing of our organisation and find a way forward to fix things.”

While Blatter’s supporters within the “Fifa family” rallied round – the Confederation of African Football vowing to back him in Friday’s election and Vladimir Putin criticising what he saw as a US plot – those who hope to force him out stepped up the pressure.



Platini, the Uefa president who helped him to victory in 1998 and was once a close ally, delivered a personal plea to Blatter to stand aside for the good of the game when they met for crisis talks.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Michel Platini talks to the press following a meeting of the Uefa board on Thursday. Photograph: Imago/Barcroft Media

Blatter cancelled a scheduled appearance at a Fifa medical conference to hold an emergency meeting with representatives of all six continental confederations at the organisation’s headquarters.



“I said, ‘I’m asking you to leave, Fifa’s image is terrible,’” said Platini. “He said that he couldn’t leave all of a sudden.”



Platini added that the majority of his 53 members would back Blatter’s Jordanian rival, Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein. “I’m saying this with sadness and tears in my eyes, but there have been too many scandals. Fifa doesn’t deserve to be treated this way.”

Platini said it was possible that Uefa could withdraw its co-operation from Fifa if Blatter won or even boycott the World Cup altogether. “Enough is enough. Too much is too much. In terms of our image it’s not good at all. I am the first one to be disgusted by this,” he said.

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David Gill, the former Manchester United chief executive who sits on the Uefa board, said he would refuse the Fifa vice-presidency he is due to assume on Friday if Blatter won.



“Seismic events happened yesterday and if he [Blatter] can’t see the enormity of what has happened and resign, then to be on that body would be futile,” said Gill. “I don’t think that is right for me, and more importantly, I don’t think that’s right for Uefa and football.”

Blatter’s rival, Prince Ali, who has promised reform despite the devalued currency of the word at Fifa, is quietly confident that the crisis has strengthened his hand before Friday’s vote. Perhaps optimistically, he told Uefa delegates that he was confident of securing at least 60 votes outside Europe, and Platini said he could deliver at least 45 votes from Europe.

Blatter requires a two-thirds majority of the 209 voters to triumph in the opening round, with a simple majority required if it goes to a second round. A handful of European nations, including Spain and 2018 World Cup hosts Russia, will remain loyal to Blatter.

Putin said the US investigation into Fifa corruption, which uncovered $150m (£98m) worth of bribes as well as claims of bribery in the awarding of the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 presidential election, was designed to undermine Blatter and destabilise Russia.



“I have no doubt that this is yet another evident attempt to derail Mr Blatter’s re-election as Fifa president. We are aware of the pressure that he was subjected to in relation to Russia holding the 2018 World Cup,” he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Vladimir Putin backs Sepp Blatter to remain as Fifa president.

If he secures victory on Friday despite the storm raging around Fifa, attention is likely to swiftly turn to how much Blatter knew about some of the 47 charges named in the US indictment, stretching from 1991 to the present day.



US authorities have said Wednesday’s bombshell was just the beginning of their investigation and warned they would “follow the money where ever it may lead”.

The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) announced on Thursday that it had dismissed its president, Jeffrey Webb, one of the executives charged. Another member of its executive committee, Eduardo Li, was also sacked, while its general secretary, Enrique Sanz, was placed on leave of absence.

In a statement on its website, Concacaf’s new president, Alfredo Hawit, said: “While we are profoundly disappointed by the allegations made by authorities that again, Concacaf has been the victim of fraud, we remain committed to Concacaf’s goal to develop, promote and manage the game of soccer.



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“We have now taken the appropriate steps to maintain our operations and continue to deliver on our commitments to all of our constituents, including our fans, members, as well as commercial and broadcast partners.



“We also continue to cooperate with the ongoing investigation by governmental authorities, which have not placed any restrictions on our ongoing activities.”

Jack Warner, the former Concacaf president, and former Fifa vice president, left a jail in Trinidad by ambulance on Thursday, a day after he was charged in the US corruption case. Judicial officer Abraham Ali said Warner had complained of exhaustion and was not able to face questions from reporters gathered outside the jail.

A judge in Buenos Aires has ordered the arrest of three Argentinian businessmen in connection with the Fifa corruption scandal, following a US extradition request.



Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi told local radio he had issued arrest orders for Alejandro Burzaco, the president of Argentinian sports marketing firm Torneos y Competencias, as well as Mariano and Hugo Jinkis, the owners of Argentina-based sports media business Full Play. The judge said Interpol was working on his request.



The three men are accused of bribing officials at the Conmebol and Concacaf confederations for TV and marketing rights of continental tournaments.



Blatter joined Fifa in 1975 and became president in 1998. The cases include a $10m payment from a Fifa account to former vice-president Jack Warner, linked to the 2010 South Africa World Cup.

Fifa’s sponsors, typically tepid in their criticism to date despite a long history of scandal, also sought to ramp up the pressure in the face of the public outcry. Credit card company Visa made the strongest intervention yet by one of Fifa’s top partners, calling on it to take “swift and immediate steps to address” the issues and threatening to quit if it did not.

“This starts with rebuilding a culture with strong ethical practices in order to restore the reputation of the games for fans everywhere,” it said in a statement. “Should Fifa fail to do so, we have informed them that we will reassess our sponsorship.”



Other sponsors including Coca-Cola also took a notably more strident tone. Collectively, commercial partners contribute $400m a year to Fifa’s revenues.

All seven of those arrested on Wednesday are challenging their extraditions to the US and remain in custody in Zurich.

On Thursday night the England manager Roy Hodgson said he was disappointed and saddened by the situation.



He said: “It is very saddening, very saddening to hear these things have taken place and one hopes desperately that measures will be taken to make certain it doesn’t happen again.”

