Thursday 28 May 2015 09:31, UK
FA chairman Greg Dyke - supported by the government - has questioned whether Friday’s FIFA presidential election should go ahead following the "very serious" arrest of seven officials at a Zurich hotel on Wednesday morning.
Authorities in Switzerland detained the officials – including FIFA vice presidents Jeffrey Webb and Eugenio Figueredo - on corruption charges and are preparing to extradite them to the United States.
In a separate move, the Swiss attorney general has confirmed that officers have opened criminal proceedings "against persons unknown on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and of money laundering in connection with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 football World Cups."
Dyke has reaffirmed his support for FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali but says the FA will consult with UEFA on Thursday morning to clarify its position with respect to Friday’s elections.
“We should stress this morning's developments are very serious for FIFA and its current leadership,” Dyke said in an FA statement.
"As one of the associations who nominated Prince Ali it will not surprise you to learn that if the election for president goes ahead The FA will be voting for him.
“However, there must be a question mark over whether the election should take place in these circumstances.
"Clearly things are changing very quickly and our delegation to the FIFA congress in Zurich, which I am leading, will discuss the position and what we should do about it with our colleagues in UEFA when we meet tomorrow (Friday) morning."
Minister for Sport Tracey Crouch said: "I fully back the FA's position that change and reform is urgently needed at the top of FIFA, including its leadership.
"I welcome the investigations that are now underway into the allegations of bribery and corruption."
But FIFA reform campaigner Damian Collins MP has gone one step further, taking aim at FIFA president Sepp Blatter and calling for the elections to immediately be put on hold.
“I think people will think this is totally despicable and Sepp Blatter should not be part of it at all,” he told Sky Sports News HQ.
“What they should do now is freeze the presidential elections, allow an independent body to come in now to oversee a reform process at FIFA, to clear out the yard and to publish the documents they’ve been sitting on for years.
“They’ve refused to share documents coming from their own investigations into allegations of corruption and when that process is completed to run some fresh elections.
“That is the only way they can restore any kind of credibility out if this. And for Sepp Blatter to refuse to do that, to refuse to consider re-running the bidding process, many people will think is incredible.
“This sadly has been a day if reckoning for the organisation and it is impossible to believe that Sepp Blatter can be calm and relaxed about what has happened.
“If they had any reputation left it is totally in tatters and people I think will rightly point the finger at him as the man in charge, as the man who promised to clean FIFA out.
“He's done nothing and it's been left to law enforcement agencies to take that action instead.”
