GENEVA : “Get out!”: world media today demanded that FIFA’s veteran president Joseph Blatter step down following the shock arrests of top officials in the organisation suspected of corruption and fraud.
“He must go!” shouted the front page of the Le Matin daily in Switzerland, where FIFA is based and where its annual congress kicked off Thursday.
“Blatter has no more credibility,” it added, a day after seven football officials were swept up in a police sting at a luxury Zurich hotel.
Its compatriot Le Temps hailed the arrests as marking “an end to impunity” long enjoyed by international football’s main body.
US authorities said nine football officials were among 14 people facing up to 20 years in jail if found guilty in the long-running corruption case involving more than $150 million in bribes.
Blatter, who has headed FIFA for 17 years and is set to stand for reelection on Friday, was not on the list.
The US investigation said South African officials paid $10 million in bribes to host the 2010 tournament, while Swiss investigators raided FIFA’s Zurich headquarters as part of an investigation into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.
– ‘The Godfather’ –
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The Times of South Africa slammed the “World Cup of fraud”, decrying that “even South Africa’s 2010 triumph” had been “blighted by FIFA corruption”.
In Britain, the Times handed FIFA a “Red Card” in an editorial warning that “Sepp Blatter is bringing world football into disrepute”.
“He must step down and open the way for sweeping changes at FIFA,” the paper said. (AGENCIES)
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