UEFA released a statement today in light of the arrests and indictments of top FIFA officials in Zurich, Switzerland. They call for a ‘reboot’ and call in to question whether UEFA countries should even attend the FIFA Congress on Friday.
They will meet on Thursday and decide what action to take. In either case, UEFA believes the FIFA election for Presidency should not go ahead on Friday.
Here is the full statement:
Today’s events are a disaster for FIFA and tarnish the image of football as a whole.
UEFA is deeply shocked and saddened by them.
These events show, once again, that corruption is deeply rooted in FIFA’s culture.
There is a need for the whole of FIFA to be “rebooted” and for a real reform to be carried out.
The upcoming FIFA Congress risks to turn into a farce and therefore the European associations will have to consider carefully if they should even attend this Congress and caution a system, which, if it is not stopped, will ultimately kill football.
The UEFA member associations are meeting tomorrow 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.
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.
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