World Cups may face boycott

Britain said Europe should consider boycotting future World Cups if Sepp Blatter doesn’t quit as head of soccer’s governing body over a corruption scandal, while Swiss authorities denied they would soon question the newly re-elected Fifa president.

Mon, 01 Jun, 2015 - 01:00

Andrew Osborn

The Swiss-born Fifa chief complained on Saturday that he had been shown “zero respect” in recent days, revealing how he had rejected advice from one of his main critics, the head of the European governing body, to quit at last week’s Fifa congress.

John Whittingdale, the British sports minister, yesterday renewed calls for Blatter to step aside, saying all options should be considered when it came to pressuring him to resign, including boycotting the World Cup — something that could split the sport and be calamitous for the tournament.

Blatter, 79, won a vote on Friday to serve a fifth term as Fifa president even though the US justice department has charged nine soccer officials with corruption and Swiss authorities are conducting their own criminal investigation.

Blatter is not accused of any wrongdoing personally and has implied the US timed news of the charges to try to scupper his re-election. Asked how he had coped with the criticism in recent days, he told Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick: “I’ve been shown zero respect.”