Blatter vows Havelange action

Sepp Blatter: FIFA president wants Joao Havelange stripped of his honorary title

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has revealed he wants to see the disgraced Joao Havelange stripped of his title of honorary president of the organisation.

Havelange, the 96-year-old former FIFA supremo, and his former son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira were named in court documents last week as having received millions of pounds in bribes from collapsed marketing company ISL during the 1990s.

And despite initially claiming he was powerless to act, Blatter will now look for world football's governing body to distance themselves from the unsavoury affair.

He told Swiss paper SonntagsBlick: "He (Havelange) is a multi-millionaire. That he received bribes beggars belief for me. He does not need it.

"I will suggest to the (executive) committee that the issue be dealt with at our next congress.

"He has got to go. He cannot remain honorary president after these events."

Dropped

"He has got to go. He cannot remain honorary president after these events."
Sepp Blatter Quotes of the week

Neither Havelange nor former executive committee member Teixeira ever faced disciplinary action from FIFA.

Instead, the world governing body agreed to pay a Swiss court 2.5million Swiss francs (£1.64m) in compensation - but only on the condition that criminal proceedings against Havelange and Teixeira were dropped.

The court report states Havelange was paid at least CHF1.5m (£1m), Teixeira at least CHF12.74m (£8.37m) and the pair may have received as much as CHF21.9m (£14.4m).

The two men have dominated Brazilian football between them for the last 50 years. Teixeira only stepped down earlier this year from FIFA's executive committee and as head of Brazil's 2014 World Cup organising committee after it became apparent the report would be published.

Havelange resigned from the International Olympic Committee in December after 48 years, just days before he was due to be sanctioned following their own investigation into the ISL case.

He has also suffered from poor health recently.

Death bed

Blatter added: "(The last time I was him) was in April, he was almost on his death bed.

"He is 96 years old. I said that if he stands up again, then it will be a miracle. And he stood up again, but he is not well."

Blatter also revealed a high-ranking football official tried to bribe him to ensure his country qualified for the World Cup in 1986.

He said: "While I was general secretary, a football association president from one county came to me. It was a decisive game with the winner qualifying for the World Cup in 1986. He was here in FIFA HQ. As he was leaving, he came to me and said 'it would be good if the referees were on our side'. Then he put an envelope in my coat.

"I went back into my office and opened the envelope. There were 50,000 dollars inside. I took the money to our accountant and he suggested we should open an account in the man's name and pay it in. I told this to him and, 14 days later, he picked the money up. Since then, nobody has tried to bribe me.

"Back then we did not have an ethics committee - he gave me the money, I gave it back and that was it."