Asian confederation counters reports it wants Sepp Blatter to stay on
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Version 0 of 1. The Asian Football Confederation has joined its African counterparts in countering suggestions that it was in favour of Sepp Blatter staying on as Fifa president despite him announcing his intention to resign amid a major corruption scandal. The Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag reported that Blatter had not ruled out staying in office after being honoured by messages of support from African and Asian football associations. Support for Blatter’s leadership has traditionally been strong in the 46-nation Asian bloc but the AFC declined to throw its weight behind any push to keep the Swiss in power for a fifth term. Related: Nobel board to terminate its relationship with Fifa “With regard to recent media stories, the Asian Football Confederation confirms its position as previously outlined, namely that the AFC takes note of the Fifa president’s intention to step down at an extraordinary congress scheduled to be called later this year or early 2016, which will be the subject of the upcoming Fifa executive committee meeting on 20 July,” the AFC said in a statement. “AFC fully respects the decision of the Fifa president to step down and is sure that it was taken after deep and careful consideration.” The Confederation of African Football said on Monday it had not heard of any of its members asking Blatter to remain in office. “At CAF level we are not aware of any African countries who have written to ask Blatter to stay on,” Kalusha Bwalya, a CAF executive committee member and president of the Football Association of Zambia, said. “We feel it is better to get on with our own work in the mean time and see what everyone has to say in the next months. Everybody is waiting for clarity.” Fifa also moved to head off speculation that Blatter could stay by making it clear the adviser responsible for suggesting he may perform a U-turn no longer has a mandate to speak for him. Schweiz am Sonntag was believed to have been briefed by the 74-year-old Zurich-based communications consultant and former Blatter adviser Klaus Stöhlker, but on Monday Fifa distanced itself from his comments, saying: “Klaus Stöhlker’s mandate from the Fifa president ended on 31 May 2015. “The Fifa president would like to point to his remarks from 2 June,” it said. In that statement, Blatter said he would continue until a fresh election is held between December and February next year. Fifa’s comments came on the back of its head of audit and compliance unit, Domenico Scala, insisting that the president must keep his promise to go. “For me, the reforms are the central topic. That is why I think it is clearly indispensable to follow through with the initiated process of president’s change as it has been announced,” Scala said on Sunday. |