UEFA has called for FIFA’s presidential election on Friday to be postponed as the shock waves from the biggest scandal to hit the world governing body reverberated through the sport.
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FIFA was plunged into the most serious scandal in its history after a wave of arrests of football officials in Zurich on corruption charges.
Swiss police detained seven football officials accused of taking more than $150m (Dh551m) in bribes in a dawn raid on a luxury Zurich hotel.
The United States wants the seven extradited to face trial there. Separately, Swiss investigators raided FIFA’s headquarters as part of an investigation into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.
.@AAndrewJennings : FIFA arrests today are just the beginning, there’s much more to come. NOW on Newsnight.
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) May 27, 2015
The twin proceedings have cast FIFA into a state of crisis and UEFA wants Friday’s presidential election between incumbent Sepp Blatter and Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan to be postponed.
UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, speaking in Warsaw, said in a statement: “UEFA believes that the FIFA Congress should be postponed and that the election for the president should take place within six months.”
The full UEFA statement following an executive committee meeting said: “Today’s events are a disaster for FIFA and tarnish the image of football as a whole.
“UEFA is deeply shocked and saddened by them. These events show, once again, that corruption is deeply rooted in FIFA’s culture.
“There is a need for the whole of FIFA to be “rebooted” and for a real reform to be carried out. The upcoming FIFA Congress risks to turn into a farce and therefore the European associations will have to consider carefully if they should even attend this Congress and caution a system, which, if it is not stopped, will ultimately kill football.”
FIFA president Sepp Blatter issued his own statement saying it is “a difficult time for football.”
Blatter said: “As unfortunate as these events are, it should be clear that we welcome the actions and the investigations by the US and Swiss authorities and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken to root out any wrongdoing in football.
“Such misconduct has no place in football and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game. Following the events of today, the independent Ethics Committee took swift action to provisionally ban those individuals named by the authorities from any football-related activities at the national and international level.
“We will continue to work with the relevant authorities and we will work vigorously within FIFA in order to root out any misconduct, to regain your trust and ensure that football worldwide is free from wrongdoing.”
Prince Ali branded the arrests a “sad day for football” and said FIFA needs “leadership that accepts responsibility for its actions and does not pass blame”.
