Corrupt officials will be booted out of football, insists FIFA president Blatter
Sepp Blatter has issued a statement claiming any members who are found guilty of corruption will be booted out of FIFA.
The world governing body have been rocked by the biggest scandal in its history after nine of its officials were accused of breeding decades of "rampant, systemic and deep-rooted" corruption.
The accusations and wave of arrests, with a total of fourteen people indicted, with seven held in Zurich, were brought forward by the US justice department, who have been investigating corruption allegations going back to 1991.
President Blatter, who is now under a fierce spotlight though he is not one of those arrested, has not offered a public message over Wednesday’s events, but did issue a statement claiming that the bombshell legal actions are a positive step.
Despite years of negative headlines, the 79-year-old said: "As unfortunate as these events are, it should be clear that we welcome the actions and the investigations by the US and Swiss authorities and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken to root out any wrongdoing in football.
"While there will be many who are frustrated with the pace of change, I would like to stress the actions that we have taken and will continue to take. In fact, today's action by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General was set in motion when we submitted a dossier to the Swiss authorities late last year.
"Let me be clear: such misconduct has no place in football and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game. Following the events of today, the independent Ethics Committee - which is in the midst of its own proceedings regarding the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups - took swift action to provisionally ban those individuals named by the authorities from any football-related activities at the national and international level."
Blatter is the overwhelming favourite to win a fifth term of office, though UEFA have called for Friday's presidential election to be postposed in the wake of Wednesday's events.
During his 17-year tenure there have been numerous corruption allegations surrounding FIFA officials but Blatter still holds the formal backing from the Asian, African and South American confederations.