FIFA Fallout Intensifies as Putin Accuses US of 'Illegally Persecuting People'

FIFA president Sepp Blatter is to press ahead with his re-election amid calls for his resignation and further fallout from Wednesday's arrests of top officials on charges of corruption. Now politicians from around the world are also getting involved.

Blatter held a series of emergency meetings on Thursday with leaders of soccer's governing bodies, including Michel Platini, the president of European confederation UEFA, who later told a press conference he was "disgusted" and "sickened" by the scandal. The FIFA presidential election is scheduled for Friday as part of the organization's annual congress taking place in Zurich, Switzerland.

"I asked him to resign: enough is enough, Sepp," said Platini. "He listened to me but he told me it is too late."

In a statement released Wednesday UEFA said the FIFA congress and election should be postponed or they risked turning into a "farce," though it decided not to boycott the events, as it had been considering, because that would guarantee Blatter a victory.

The African, Asian and North American soccer federations have backed Blatter and said the ballot should go ahead as planned.

Politicians have begun to wade into the commotion, with UK Prime Minister David Cameron saying he believed Blatter should resign.

The French Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the vote should be delayed, while UK Sports Minister John Whittingdale said "a change in leadership of FIFA is very badly needed."

I welcome the probe into allegations of FIFA corruption and bribery, and support the FA's call for new leadership and reform.

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) May 28, 2015

Meanwhile, Putin — whose country is due to host the 2018 World Cup following a bidding process which is now being investigated by Swiss federal prosecutors, alongside the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar —  questioned the motives of the US in prosecuting the case. Speaking on state television on Thursday, he commented: "I suppose that someone broke some rules, I don't know. But definitely, it's got nothing to do with the USA."

"It's another clear attempt by the USA to spread its jurisdiction to other states," Putin added, before saying that the timing of the arrests — days before the presidential election — was deliberately timed to harass Blatter. "I have no doubt — it's a clear attempt not to allow Mr. Blatter to be re-elected as president of FIFA, which is a great violation of the operating principles of international organizations," he said.

Citing the case of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, the Russian leader said the US used the guise of law enforcement to pursue its own agenda. "They are illegally persecuting people. I do not rule out the possibility that the same goes for this situation with FIFA," he said.

Related: FIFA Bosses Get Rude Awakening With Arrests at Their Five Star Swiss Hotel

In a speech to mark the opening of the congress on Thursday, Blatter said these were "unprecedented and difficult times for FIFA."

The scandal was the result of the actions of a few, according to Blatter. "I cannot monitor everyone all of the time," he stated, before saying this should be the "turning point" for FIFA. "It is necessary to begin to restore trust in our organization."

Blatter is not among the nine current and former top soccer officials and four sports marketing executives who have been indicted by the US Department of Justice, on charges of receiving bribes worth more than $150 million over the course of three decades. Seven of the most powerful men in global soccer were arrested in a Wednesday dawn raid on their five-star Swiss hotel as they gathered for FIFA's annual meeting. They are now in custody facing extradition to the US.

"This really is the World Cup of fraud, and today we are issuing FIFA a red card," Richard Weber, criminal investigation chief of the IRS, said at a press conference in New York on Wednesday afternoon.

Swiss authorities simultaneously announced the opening of criminal investigation into "criminal mismanagement and of money laundering in connection with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 football World Cups."

Anthony Hughes, a sports law professor at the University of New South Wales who studies FIFA closely, told VICE News that FIFA had become a "law onto themselves. They just became so huge, and the money so big."

Hughes said the FIFA fallout had been a long time coming but he was glad it had happened. "I think it just shows mesmerizingly how sport sees itself as being different. They think they're outside the normal practice of things."

Related: FIFA's Corruption Report Immediately Labeled 'Erroneous' by Its Own Investigator

FIFA's sponsors have also reacted to the arrests, some in a stronger way than expected.

Visa was the most outspoken, saying: "It is important that FIFA makes changes now, so that the focus remain on these going forward. Should FIFA fail to do so, we have informed them that we will reassess our sponsorship."

Coca-Cola said: "This lengthy controversy has tarnished the mission and ideals of the FIFA World Cup," while Adidas — FIFA's oldest sponsor — said it wanted to encourage the soccer organization to "continue to establish and follow transparent compliance standards."

Granting the World Cup to Russia and Qatar was a step "too far" and a sign of "hubris," according to Hughes. Now, for the organization to properly reform, Hughes said, "the top has got to be chopped off" — the officials leading the organization would need to step down to make systematic change possible. "If Blatter loves football he should resign," Hughes argued.

The controversy around FIFA's actions and the organization's apparent endemic corruption made global headlines in November, after a summary report released by FIFA that cleared Russia and Qatar of violating major bidding rules was labeled "erroneous" by the lawyer who led the same investigation.

That attorney, Michael J. Garcia, announced his aim to appeal FIFA's conclusion at the time, adding: "Today's decision by the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the investigatory chamber's report."

Related: Conditions Are Not Improving for Qatar's Desperate World Cup Workers

Follow Sally Hayden on Twitter: @sallyhayd