Sepp Blatter has begun the race to see him replaced as Fifa president, setting the election for February next year as Michel Platini emerged as his most likely successor.

The sense of farce surrounding the scandal-hit body intensified when the prankster Simon Brodkin, in character as footballer Jason Bent – self-declared “North Korean World Cup bidding delegate” – showered the longstanding Fifa president with dollar bills seconds before his press conference was due to begin.

Brodkin, perhaps best known in the persona of Lee Nelson, has previously ambushed Kanye West at Glastonbury and posed as a member of the England football team. As the bills fluttered to the floor, Blatter appeared momentarily bemused before calling for the auditorium to be cleaned.

Appearing before the press for the first time since he promised to step down amid a spiralling corruption scandal, he returned to announce a “reform taskforce” that he insisted would restore Fifa’s credibility.

“I am still alive. After the tsunami on 27 May that came to Zurich, the waves have not taken me away. I am still here,” he said, referring to the dawn raids on the Baur au Lac hotel and the US indictments that followed.

Following speculation Blatter would attempt to make a U-turn and stay on as president, the 79-year-old unequivocally vowed to stand down.

“I will not be a candidate for the election in 2016,” he said, joking that he planned to become a radio journalist covering global politics. “There will be a new president. I can’t be the new president, because I am the old president.”

The announcement came as it looked increasingly likely Uefa’s Platini would stand for the role. David Gill, the FA director who reversed his decision to resign from the Fifa executive committee after Blatter promised to go, praised Platini.

“My own personal view is that Michel has done a first-class job at Uefa. He has not officially put his name forward yet, but he is a football man, he has the experience and, like any good leader, he has a lot of good people around him because you cannot do it alone.”

On the reform programme promised by the outgoing president, Gill said: “There are a lot of good ideas and many of them echo what the FA has been proposing for some time. It’s important that the recommendations are taken to the congress in February to ensure Fifa does really start on a new beginning.”

However, reform campaigners argued that Fifa’s proposals were not an acceptable response.

Platini held talks at the Baur au Lac on Sunday night with the Bahraini Asian Football Confederation president, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, and Kuwait’s well-connected Fifa executive member, Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah.

Platini, who has received backing from four confederations but not from Africa and Oceania, is understood to be weighing up his options and will take further soundings at the World Cup draw in St Petersburg on Saturday.

“He has been pleased to hear a lot of words of support from some of the world’s leading football decision-makers,” said a Uefa spokesman. “He has been impressed by the fact that many people could see him as a possible successor.”

Other potential candidates include the South Korean Chung Mong-joon, the Confederation of African Football president, Issa Hayatou, the former Brazil international Zico and the South African anti-apartheid campaigner Tokyo Sexwale.

The election will take place eight months and 25 days after Blatter promised to step down following the dramatic US indictments against 14 football executives on charges including money laundering, fraud, tax evasion and racketeering.

The US investigation and a parallel Swiss probe into the awarding of the 2018 Russia World Cup and the 2022 tournament in Qatar are ongoing .

Candidates will have until 26 October to announce whether they plan to stand under Fifa election rules but Platini, a former ally of Blatter who later fell out with his one-time mentor, is expected to clarify his plans in the coming weeks.

As revealed by the Guardian, Domenico Scala – the head of Fifa’s audit and compliance committee – who has been put in charge of the reform process by Blatter, proposed the introduction of term limits, centralised “integrity checks” and transparency on pay and expenses at Fifa and its member confederations and associations.

Blatter said the executive committee had approved the creation of a new taskforce to be headed by a neutral chairman. But the plans, the latest in a long line of reform promises, are unlikely to appease anti-corruption watchdogs and campaigners who believe the governance agenda should be separated from the election process and led by an external, respected figure.

If Platini decides to stand, he will inevitably face renewed questions over his support for Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid.

Meanwhile, campaign groups including Transparency International are calling for an independent reform process led by a respected external figure. Coca-Cola last week became the first major sponsor to call for a wide ranging overhaul.

Jaimie Fuller, the founder of the sportswear brand Skins that is backing the NewFifaNow campaign for independent intervention, said it would be a mistake to focus on the presidential election as the vehicle for reform.

“This is not a Sepp Blatter problem, it’s a cultural problem within Fifa,” he said. “The problem is way bigger than the president. I don’t believe Platini or anybody else has the ability to go in and see what needs to be done.”

Six of the seven executives arrested in May remain in custody in Zurich awaiting extradition hearings. Jeffrey Webb, the former Concacaf president and Fifa vice-president, has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges.