Football
PA Sport 9y

UEFA calls for FIFA presidential election to be postponed

UEFA has called for Friday's FIFA presidential election to be postponed, the governing body of European football has announced.

Swiss authorities arrested several top FIFA officials on Wednesday and plan to extradite them to the United States, where they will face federal corruption charges.

Officials arrested included vice presidents Jeffrey Webb and Eugenio Figueredo, former executive committee member Jack Warner and Costa Rica federation president Eduardo Li. Fourteen people -- nine football officials and five sports-marketing executives -- are named in the indictment and face charges of wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

FIFA confirmed earlier on Wednesday that the election would still take place on Friday, but UEFA are now keen to halt the proceedings.

"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," read an official statement.

"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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