English football chairman says Blatter must go

The chairman of the English Football Association says FIFA President Sepp Blatter should leave his job immediately in the wake of the string of corruption arrests of some of the federation’s top officials. Greg Dyke’s comments went further than European football’s governing body, UEFA, which called only for a six-month delay in Friday’s scheduled FIFA presidential vote. Dyke said he was unconvinced by Blatter’s declaration that FIFA can regain the trust of soccer fans by stepping up efforts to root out corruption.  Blatter is seeking a fifth, four-year term in Friday’s election. His opponent is Prince Ali of Jordan.

Blatter has put out a statement saying now is the time to start rebuilding the trust in FIFA — there is no way of re-building trust in FIFA while Sepp Blatter is still there.

Greg Dyke, Chairman of the English Football Association

FIFA has suspended 11 people, including two of its vice presidents, from all soccer-related activities on Wednesday following a U.S. criminal investigation into corruption in world soccer. The vice presidents — Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands and Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay — were arrested in Zurich early Wednesday after being indicted in the U.S. Former FIFA vice president Jack Warner was expected to spend Wednesday night in jail in Trinidad and Tobago after surrendering when police issued an arrest warrant at the request of U.S. authorities, who filed corruption charges against him and 13 others tied to international soccer. Nike says it is cooperating with authorities in the U.S. probe of FIFA, the governing body of soccer worldwide. Former soccer great Diego Maradona says that for years he has said FIFA was corrupt but that he wasn’t taken seriously.

I think the time has come where the damage this has done to FIFA is so great that it can’t be re-built while Blatter is there so UEFA has got to try to force him out.

Greg Dyke

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