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In this
May 19, 2015 photo FIFA President Sepp Blatter attends a press conference in
Jerusalem. Blatter is seeking reelection at the FIFA congress in Zurich where
six soccer officials were arrested and detained by Swiss police on Wednesday,
May 27, 2015 pending extradition at the request of U.S. authorities after a
raid at a luxury hotel. The officials are in Switzerland for the FIFA congress
and presidential election. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
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Soccer's governing body FIFA called the arrest of
six of its leading figures on bribery charges a "difficult moment"
but said President Sepp Blatter would not step down and that the next World
Cups would go ahead as planned in Russia and Qatar.
"It
is certainly a difficult moment for us," spokesman Walter De Gregorio
said. "It is a hard time for us. But this is good for FIFA. It confirms
that we are on the right track. It hurts. It's not easy. But it's the right way
to go."
De
Gregorio added that the election of the FIFA president, which is expected to
return Blatter for a fifth term, would proceed this week as scheduled, saying
the arrests were unrelated to the vote.
Swiss
police arrested some of the most powerful figures in global soccer on
Wednesday, announcing a criminal investigation into the awarding of the next
two World Cups and plunging the world's most popular sport into turmoil.
Those
arrested did not include Blatter, the Swiss head of football's multi-billion
dollar governing body FIFA, but included several of those just below him in the
hierarchy of the wealthiest and most powerful sports body on earth.
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