{"id":119908,"date":"2015-05-28T08:26:39","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T08:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=119908"},"modified":"2015-05-28T08:26:39","modified_gmt":"2015-05-28T08:26:39","slug":"uefa-wants-fifa-presidential-election-postponed-after-arrests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/05\/uefa-wants-fifa-presidential-election-postponed-after-arrests\/","title":{"rendered":"UEFA wants FIFA presidential election postponed after arrests"},"content":{"rendered":"
European football’s leaders are to meet on Thursday in a bid to postpone Fifa’s presidential election.<\/p>\n
Uefa does not want Friday’s vote to go ahead after bribery and racketeering charges were laid against senior officials in football’s governing body.<\/p>\n
“These events show, once again, that corruption is deeply rooted in Fifa’s culture,” Uefa said.<\/p>\n
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan is standing against incumbent Sepp Blatter in the election.<\/p>\n
Uefa said Friday’s meeting of Fifa’s members risked turning into “a farce” and said it could even boycott the gathering.<\/p>\n
“The Uefa member associations are meeting ahead of the Fifa Congress. At that point, the European associations will decide on what further steps need to be taken to protect the game of football,” it added in a statement.<\/p>\n
“In the meantime, the members of the Uefa Executive Committee are convinced that there is a strong need for a change to the leadership of this Fifa and strongly believe that the Fifa Congress should be postponed, with new Fifa presidential elections to be organised within the next six months.”<\/p>\n
Prince Ali has called for a change of Fifa’s leadership and said in a statement: “We cannot continue with the crisis in Fifa.”<\/p>\n
However, Uefa’s stance is not shared by all football administrators. The Asian Football Confederation opposes a postponed election – and will vote for Blatter.<\/p>\n
In addition to a United States-led criminal investigation, Swiss officials are looking into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.<\/p>\n
Fifa has welcomed the investigations into alleged corruption by some of its most powerful figures and said there is no question of re-running the 2018 and 2022 bids.<\/p>\n
It has also insisted the election will go ahead as planned.<\/p>\n
Fifa’s Independent Ethics Committee has also banned 11 officials named by investigators from football activities. “Such misconduct has no place in football and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game,” Blatter said.<\/p>\n
‘They’ll have no option but to rethink and revote’<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n