'Strongly condemned'

UEFA chief blasts Blatter over audit suspension

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- UEFA leaders on Wednesday "strongly condemned" FIFA president Sepp Blatter for suspending an internal audit of the world soccer body and called on the investigation to be reopened before a FIFA executive committee meeting on May 3.

"If he has nothing to hide, then let the truth be established," said UEFA chief Lennart Johansson, reading from a statement of the UEFA executive committee.

The statement came at a press conference in Stockholm, on the eve of UEFA's congress, and hours after FIFA said a majority of its top leaders backed Blatter's decision to suspend the audit.

"The UEFA executive committee believes that it is essential for the credibility of FIFA that the [Internal Audit Committee] restart its work before May 3 and provide a full and detailed report on their findings ahead of the forthcoming FIFA congress," Johansson said.

The audit committee is examining the books of the world soccer body following last year's collapse of FIFA's marketing partner ISL/ISMM. Blatter froze the investigation on April 11, citing a "breach of confidentiality" by an unnamed member.

Johansson identified the member as South Korean Mong-Joon Chung, a Blatter critic, and said Chung denied wrongdoing.

FIFA on Wednesday said "the majority of members" of its seven-member emergency committee had given written approval to Blatter's decision to freeze the probe, but would not name who they were.

"They have no power to do so," Johansson said of the committee, of which he is a member.

The committee also includes Chung, African soccer federation head Issa Hayatou and Jack Warner, head of the North and Central American and Caribbean soccer federation.

Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay, Argentina's Julio Grondona and Adrian Wickham of the Solomon Islands also are members. Blatter is the chairman.

"The decision [to conduct an audit] was taken by the executive committee and it's the only body that can stop the investigation. Therefore we demand it proceed as of the beginning of next week," Johansson said.

His comments were echoed by the head of the audit committee, FIFA vice president David Will of Scotland, who said Blatter had no right to suspend the audit and that he would continue his own inquiries.

"I met with the president on April 22 and he was not able to present to me one single example of information which had been given exclusively to the independent audit committee having been leaked," Will said in a statement Wednesday.

Johansson suggested "it would be a good idea" if Blatter withdrew his candidacy for re-election as FIFA president, adding, "but I don't think he will."

The UEFA chief, who lost a presidential bid to Blatter in 1998, is backing Blatter's opponent, Hayatou, in the May 29 election.

Johansson also said UEFA had rejected calls from Arab nations for the suspension of Israel, saying the European soccer body would evaluate "the security situation case by case and judge after that where [Israel's] games should be played and where."

"We'll be guided if necessary by the United Nations," said the 73-year-old Swede, who's running unopposed for re-election as UEFA president on Thursday.

In another controversial issue, UEFA's executive committee scrapped the golden goal rule for club competition finals in favor of a penalty shootout.

If the final of the Champions League or UEFA Cup ends in a draw, 15 minutes of extra time will be played. If there is no winner by the end of that period, another 15 minutes of extra time will be played.

If the match is still level, the winner will be determined on penalties.

Johansson wants probe into alleged 'slush fund'

UEFA president Lennart Johansson called for an investigation on Wednesday into a report that a $100 million slush fund was established to help Sepp Blatter become FIFA president four years ago.

The report in Wednesday's Daily Mail newspaper in London claims the money was paid into a secret account at ISL, FIFA's long-term marketing partner which collapsed a year ago with debts of about $300 million, and that it has now disappeared.

The newspaper alleges the money was to be used by supporters of Blatter -- but not by Blatter himself -- to help smooth his election victory over Johansson in June 1998 when he succeeded Joao Havelange as FIFA president.

"One hundred million is quite a lot of money," Johansson told a news conference with typical understatement following a UEFA executive committee meeting.

"If this amount of money has disappeared we have to find out where it went. There should be an investigation, which would certainly be included in the one going on now, and if it has happened there would be a call for action. I cannot see how -- if this has really happened -- those involved can have any function any longer in football," said the Swede.

Blatter, who is attending the UEFA Congress, declined on Wednesday to answer any questions regarding the allegations.

He said: "I will speak about that tomorrow [Thursday]. I don't know why it should be difficult for me to come here because I am a guest, I am not a protagonist.

"I will play the role of FIFA president. I am a guest of UEFA and it is not a difficult task for me to be here."

Long series

The Mail's allegations are the latest in a long series regarding the election of Blatter as president four years ago.

He won the vote by 111-80 over Johansson, but from the very day of his victory -- June 8, 1998 -- there have been rumours that a number of delegates were paid to switch their votes at the last minute from Johansson to Blatter.

Wednesday's Daily Mail allegations are that ISL, struggling financially, asked for advance payments totaling $100 million from TV Globo in Brazil and Dentsu TV in Japan ostensibly to help boost its flagging finances.

But that money, the newspaper says, was paid into a secret account in Liechtenstein, not into ISL's official TV account, and was subsequently used to fund Blatter's election campaign.

The subsequent collapse of ISL, it is alleged, meant that the money effectively disappeared with neither ISL nor FIFA acknowledging its whereabouts or existence.

FIFA have subsequently issued two writs against ISL saying ISL wrongly withheld the money from the TV account. Both Dentsu and TV Globo have confirmed the money was paid to ISL.

Zen-Ruffinen: Blatter ignored me so I had to act

FIFA general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen said he decided to speak out against Sepp Blatter because the FIFA president ignored his requests to act against the problems blighting soccer's world governing body

In an impromptu news conference on Wednesday in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel minutes after arriving in the Swedish capital for Thursday's UEFA Congress, Zen-Ruffinen also said he would not accept blame for problems he had no responsibility for.

Zen-Ruffinen, who will almost certainly lose his job if Blatter is re-elected as FIFA president on May 29, also said he had spoken to certain members of the FIFA executive committee, who also ignored him.

It was at that point he decided to go public in an interview in the Swiss media at the weekend.

In his first show of open public defiance against the president, Zen-Ruffinen spoke at length about the problems surrounding FIFA finances and the collapse of their marketing partner ISL-ISMM last year with debts of around $300 million.

But there are also other matters which he has said he will reveal to the emergency meeting of the FIFA executive committee on May 3.

"These problems have existed for months, if not years within FIFA, and it is only now that the executive committee has started to look at the problems within the organization because of the upcoming election, that they are coming to light," he said.

"I don't want people to be able to say this is a 'financial element' and it's the general secretary's responsibility. You cannot make somebody responsible for something when they were not informed about it."

He also reiterated his earlier statement that the president had not acted in accordance with FIFA statutes in suspending the work of the Internal Audit Committee (IAC), which was set up to examine the state of FIFA's finances in the wake of the ISL-ISMM collapse

Zen-Ruffinen that he would continue to provide information about the state of the finances when asked.

David Will, the chairman of the IAC, said earlier on Wednesday that he would continue with his investigations in his role as a FIFA vice-president and executive committee member.

"David Will does not need to be the chairman of the audit committee to ask me questions. He is an executive committee member and a FIFA vice-president and he has the right to ask me.

"The committee was working to terms of reference clearly set down -- everybody has to respect them, including the president."

Threat ignored

Earlier this week Blatter ordered Zen-Ruffinen to either back up his allegations of wrongdoing at FIFA House or stop talking to the media.

Clearly Zen-Ruffinen, 43 on Wednesday, took no notice of Blatter, who on Tuesday said that Zen-Ruffinen had once been "like a son" to him.

"I am not worried about how the president will respond. I am fighting to keep FIFA working in accordance with the statutes and regulations which govern the organization," he said.

"I am absolutely aware that the decision I take will not be welcome by a lot of people but there is a time in life when you have to do it.

"I accepted a lot of things because I was loyal, you have to be loyal. But that was up to the moment when people tried to put on my shoulders responsibility for things that were nothing to do with me. When that happens you say 'sorry I can't accept it.'

"It is not a matter of working against the president but FIFA needs to be put on the right tracks again.

"FIFA is a disfunctioning body in certain respects and when I chose to tell them to the president, four times since 2001, he did not reply.

"If a structure is not working people should try to correct it, things are not getting better. I had no choice and had to denounce it. The meeting on May 3 is a very, very important one for FIFA.

"The executive committee has to say clearly: "We know this has been done but it is not acceptable, please correct it."

"If the executive committee clearly says on May 3 that we have to correct things and get them right in the future then the future of FIFA will be safe. The future of FIFA is more important than my future."

Despite his outspoken comments, both Blatter and Zen-Rufinnen and their aides had a drink together in the airport lounge in Zurich before flying on the same plane to Stockholm.

However they arrived in separate vehicles at the Sheraton Hotel and while Zen-Ruffinen spoke openly to the media for some time, Blatter brushed reporters aside and said he would hold a news conference after the UEFA Congress on Thursday.

Brief truce in FIFA civil war at UEFA Congress

A temporary ceasefire in FIFA's increasingly hostile civil war will be declared for a few hours on Thursday at UEFA's 26th biennial Congress.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, estranged general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen and his presidential rival Issa Hayatou will all be sitting alongside each other on the front row of the VIP section while UEFA president Lennart Johansson presides over the meeting in his home city.

They have been the principle protagonists in the feud which has ripped apart the top of the world game centred on FIFA's finances and the presidency of Blatter.

Both Hayatou and Blatter, who are standing against each other for the FIFA presidency next month, will address the Congress -- but in keeping with tradition the proceedings will be polite, and even civil.

Johansson, 72 is the only candidate for UEFA president and will be reelected for a fourth term while Michel Platini, the former French footballing great, and his probable successor in the future, should be elected onto UEFA's Executive Committee.

Platini, 46, who had a glittering playing career leading France to victory in the 1984 European Championships, has been involved with soccer's administration as an advisor to Blatter for the last four years.

If his bid for office is successful, as seems likely, he will not only bring some relatively youthful vitality to the committee, but also become the first from his exalted level as a player to win political office.

Counter-balance

As far as UEFA is concerned, he is also likely to counter-balance some of the anti-FIFA feeling that has long existed within the higher echelons of the UEFA administration.

While Johansson is the only candidate for UEFA president, a total of 14 administrators are standing for seven vacancies on the UEFA Executive Committee -- six of them for four-year terms and one for a two-year term.

The seven vacancies arise as three current members are retiring and four are seeking re-election.

Des Casey (Ireland), Frantisek Chvalovsky (Czech Republic) and Claude Simonet (France) are stepping down, while Senes Erzik (Turkey), Viacheslav Koloskov (Russia), Giangiorgio Spiess (Switzerland) and Angel Maria Villar Llona (Spain) are all seeking re-election.

Those seeking to gain a place on the Executive Committee are: Fuad Musayev (Azerbaijan), Vlatko Markovic (Croatia), Pekka Hamalainen (Finland), Platini (France), Imre Bozoky (Hungary), Eggert Magnusson (Iceland), Franco Carraro (Italy), Henri Roemer (Luxembourg), Michal Listkiewicz (Poland) and Hrygoril Surkis (Ukraine).

Kazakhstan are also expected to be admitted as UEFA's 52nd member after transferring from the Asian Football Confederation.

 

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Reuters contributed to this report.