FIFA president Sepp Blatter calls an emergency meeting

28 May 2015 - 15:36 By Times LIVE
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Fifa President Sepp Blatter in Zurich after Swiss authorities opened criminal proceedings against football officials on suspicion of mismanagement and money-laundering. Blatter has long been accused of turning Fifa into a corrupt empire
Fifa President Sepp Blatter in Zurich after Swiss authorities opened criminal proceedings against football officials on suspicion of mismanagement and money-laundering. Blatter has long been accused of turning Fifa into a corrupt empire
Image: ARND WIEGMANN/REUTERS

Embattled FIFA president Sepp Blatter called an emergency meeting on Thursday as the football world governing body scrambles to contain the crisis over a growing corruption scandal.

According to the BBC, the meeting is the first since the crisis began on Wednesday.

Sponsors piled pressure on the FIFA leader to clean up world football as two major corruption scandals overshadowed the start of an elective congress scheduled for Thursday at which the 79-year-old will seek a new five-year term.

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.

The president of European governing body UEFA Michel Platini attended along with the heads and representatives of the Asia Football Conderation (AFC), CONMEBOL (South America), CAF (Africa), OFC (Oceania) and CONCACAF (North, Central American and Caribbean).

The subject of the meeting, which comes on the eve of Blatter's election bid for a fifth term in office, was not revealed.

The European football body Uefa is calling for the boycott of Friday's vote.

FIFA was plunged into crisis on Wednesday, two days before elective congress, when Swiss police arrested seven officials in Zurich at the request of United States authorities for alleged corruption.

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