FA chiefs call on Blatter to step down

England’s football chiefs rounded on FIFA president Sepp Blatter yesterday telling him he must stand down next year and that his claim racism was behind World Cup corruption allegations was "offensive and totally unacceptable".

FA chairman Greg Dyke responded forcefully to Blatter at a meeting of UEFA federations in Sao Paulo after the FIFA president had addressed the room indicating he would stand again for a fifth term.

Dyke and England’s UEFA vice-president David Gill both said Blatter should not commit a U-turn on his 2011 pledge to stand down in 2015.