South African football is bracing for the fallout from the exit of one of its closest Fifa allies, president Sepp Blatter. The man who has been at the helm of world football since 1998 announced he was standing down as president of Fifa last night following a week of scandal and accusations levelled at the governing body and its leadership."I will organise an extraordinary congress for a replacement for me as president," said Blatter."I will not stand. I am now free from the constraints of an election. "We need a limitation on mandates and terms of office. I have fought for these changes but my efforts have been counteracted."Blatter has been president of the football governing body for 17 years and was re-elected just days ago. The Federal Bureau of Investigations is investigating possible corruption by the South African government and high-ranking Fifa executives in the securing of the 2010 World Cup.An FBI indictment outlined how the government and the SA Football Association promised then vice-president of Fifa Jack Warner $10-million in exchange for three votes in favour of South Africa as the World Cup host.The head of the South African local organising committee, Danny Jordaan, has denied any wrongdoing and insisted the $10-million was transferred to Warner for the Caribbean Football Union, which he headed, to fund the "African Diaspora" in the West Indies.Official reaction in South Africa to Blatter's resignation was muted. Repeated attempts to reach former LOC head Danny Jordaan and fellow World Cup organiser Irvin Khoza were unsuccessful.SA Football Association spokesman Dominic Chimhavi said: "Safa cannot comment [on Blatter's resignation] as we have a press conference tomorrow [today] but there is no link between our press conference and Blatter resigning."The Sports Minister, Fikile Mbalula, did not respond to queries on the matter but got into a Twitter war with sports commentator Neal Collins, who said Mbalula should not have denied the $10-million payment but rather admitted it happened and was legitimate.Collins tweeted: "If only you'd called me last week Sports Minister @MbalulaFikile, you might have avoided embarrassment. Sadly."Mbalula responded: "Waiting for you to locate your brains. @nealcol" and "You have obviously overdosed on nyaope this evening."Mbalula tweeted that he was available for the Fifa presidency.Earlier in the day, Fifa released a 2008 letter by then Safa president Molefi Oliphant instructing Fifa to "withhold an amount of $10-million from the organising committee's future operational budget funding and thereafter advance the amount to the Diaspora Legacy Programme".Collins said: "Yesterday Fifa confirmed the South African government's role in the affair, documented on pages 80-85 of the 160-page FBI indictment and said the cash transfer was sanctioned by Argentina's Julio Grondona, head of the Fifa finance committee at the time. Sadly, he died last year, a fact that neatly lets Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke off the hook as the man fingered by the FBI for transferring the funds."It's all very curious, given that no publicity was given to this fascinating 'Diaspora Fund'. South Africa didn't appear to offer any such help to Europe or Asia, where many people of African descent can be found looking for football facilities. And with CAF voting against us, it's hardly surprising Africa received nothing from the continent's first World Cup," Collin said.The Times was unable to reach Oliphant for comment last night.Domenico Scala, chairman of the Fifa audit and compliance committee, has promised that there will be major changes within the sporting body.Due to Fifa rules, election of a replacement for Blatter might not take place before December.According to AFP, Prince Ali bin al Hussein of Jordan, who bowed out in the first round of Fifa elections last week, intends to run for again. Other potential candidates include Michel Platini, current president of Uefa...