Zurich - European football Chief Michel Platini made a face-to-face call on FIFA president Sepp Blatter to stand down at a meeting of world federation leaders on Thursday amid mounting outrage over a corruption storm.
He said Blatter refused and was determined to remain in a vote for the FIFA presidency at a congress on Friday which has even drawn global political leaders into the fray.
British Prime Minister David Cameron backed the calls for Blatter to resign. Russia's President Vladimir Putin, whose country beat England to get the 2018 World Cup, supported Blatter for a fifth term.
Platini said he confronted the 79-year-old Blatter at an emergency meeting of the heads of the six regional confederations.
The UEFA president said he was "sickened" and "disgusted" at the events which led to the arrest of seven top football officials, including two FIFA vice presidents, at a Zurich hotel on Wednesday. They are among 14 people accused by US authorities of taking more than $150 million in bribes.
"Today I have come to ask you to quit FIFA, to resign from FIFA, to leave FIFA because its image is bad and we can no longer go on like this," Platini said he told Blatter in front of the other presidents.
Blatter only replied in a private conversation after Platini repeated the demand. "He told me: 'Michel we know each other well, but it's too late. I cannot leave today when the Congress starts this afternoon."
AFP
