England’s Football Association chairman Greg Dyke on Wednesday questioned whether FIFA’s presidential election should proceed following the arrests of seven of the world governing body’s top officials in a corruption probe.
FIFA has said that Friday’s election, when Prince Ali bin al Hussein challenges incumbent Sepp Blatter, will go ahead despite the arrests and a separate investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
“As one of the associations who nominated Prince Ali, it will not surprise you to learn that if the election for president goes ahead, the FA will be voting for him,” Dyke said in a statement on the FA website.
“However, there must be a question mark over whether the election should take place in these circumstances.
“Clearly things are changing very quickly and our delegation to the FIFA congress in Zurich, which I am leading, will discuss the position and what we should do about it with our colleagues in (European governing body) UEFA when we meet tomorrow (Thursday) morning.”
Dyke, a vocal critic of 79-year-old Blatter, who is seeking a fifth term in office, described the day’s events as “very serious for FIFA and its current leadership”.
A FIFA spokesman said that Blatter was not involved in the two investigations
The seven FIFA officials were arrested in Zurich after the US Department of Justice issued an indictment charging 14 people with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies over a 24-year period.
The seven people, including FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb, now face extradition to the United States.
Swiss police also seized documents and electronic data after raiding FIFA’s Zurich headquarters as part of a probe into bribery allegations regarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively.