FIFA president Sepp Blatter has refused to resign as Fifa president following a request from Uefa chief Michel Platini according to media reports.
Blatter is facing for his future after the latest corruption scandal to hit world football’s governing body.
Sources say that UEFA president Michel Platini has revealed he personally asked Blatter to resign on Thursday, but the FIFA chief refused.
“This morning I took the car and went to see the FIFA president,” Platini told journalists. “I told him Sepp, man to man, face to face..Leave FIFA.”
The 79-year-old Swiss held an emergency meeting with key Fifa officials on Thursday after world football’s governing body was subjected to yet more damaging corruption claims.
Blatter is seeking a fifth term in office as he prepares to go head to head with Prince Ali Bin al Hussein of Jordan in Fifa’s presidential election on Friday.
According to Platini, Blatter replied: “It’s too late. I can’t all of a sudden leave when congress starts this afternoon.”
UEFA is apparently the only football association which asked Blatter to postpone the presidential election, but has pledged to participate in the congress on Friday and support its preferred candidate, Prince Ali.
Seven Fifa officials were arrested in Zurich on Wednesday on charges they received more than $150m (£100m) in bribes.
Among them was Fifa vice-president Webb, a hugely influential figure who holds a lot of power in North America and the Caribbean.
In total, 14 defendants were charged by the US Department of Justice with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies in a 24-year scheme.
Jack Warner, a former Fifa vice-president who quit world football’s governing body in 2011, was also among them.
The US is trying to extradite all seven officials arrested in Zurich. Unsurprisingly, six of them are fighting such a move.
