UEFA president Michel Platini has expressed his pride at Europe’s reaction to Sepp Blatter’s announcement he is set to stand for a fifth term as FIFA president.
The English FA was at the forefront of a European rebellion against Blatter’s U-turn on his promise to stand down in 2015.
Asked about the response to Blatter, Platini said: “I was very proud of the Europeans.”
England’s football chiefs rounded on Blatter, telling him he should stand down next year and that his claim racism was behind World Cup corruption allegations was “offensive and totally unacceptable”.
FA chairman Greg Dyke responded forcefully to Blatter at a meeting of UEFA federations in Sao Paulo after the FIFA president had addressed the room and indicated he would stand again for a fifth term in office.
Dyke said after the meeting: “What Mr Blatter said yesterday I found offensive.
“I said to him, ‘I regard the comments you made about the allegations in the British media in which you described them as racist as totally unacceptable’.
“The allegations being made have nothing to do with racism – they are allegations about corruption within FIFA. These allegations need to be properly investigated.
“Mr Blatter, many of us are deeply troubled by your reaction to these allegations. It’s time for FIFA to stop attacking the messenger and instead consider and understand the message.”
Dyke added that it was important to clarify whether FIFA’s ethics investigator Michael Garcia has had access to the files of documents obtained by Britain’s Sunday Times alleging corruption in World Cup bidding.
“We need to know from Mr Garcia if he was aware of the material in the Sunday Times before it was published and if not whether he will now extend his investigation to consider these allegations,” Dyke said.
Dyke said Blatter should “stick” with his 2011 decision to step down next year and warned that FIFA was suffering from the constant bad publicity.
UEFA’s growing unhappiness also saw Dutch FA chief Michael van Praag, German federation president Wolfgang Niersbach and Norway’s executive committee member Karen Espelund calling on the 78-year-old not to stand for a fifth term in office.
Van Praag is regarded as a possible challenger to Blatter, along with European clubs’ chairman Karl Heinz Rummenigge – although there is no expectation they would beat the incumbent president.
The Dutchman did not rule himself out of mounting a challenge for the FIFA presidency if Platini decides not to stand, but Niersbach did do so.