FIFA president Sepp Blatter endorsed a German proposal for stronger integrity checks to vet top soccer officials as the sport's global governing body grapples with the fallout of a massive corruption scandal.
Sepp Blatter has announced his decision to stand down at a news conference in Zurich, six days after the FBI had raided a hotel in Zurich and arrested several FIFA officials.
Michael van Praag has withdrawn from next week's election and thrown his weight behind Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein.
The election to select a new president of world soccer's governing body FIFA will be held on Feb. 26 in Zurich, the organisation said on its Twitter feed on Monday.
FIFA's disciplinary committee has banned Worawi Makudi, former president of the Football Association of Thailand and a former member of the FIFA Executive Committee, for three months for failing to comply with an earlier suspension, FIFA said.
UEFA have postponed a meeting due to be held on Saturday to discuss the crisis at FIFA which led to Sepp Blatter saying he would step down as president of world soccer's governing body.
As well as UEFA, the continental confederations representing South America (Conmebol), North and Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and Asia (AFC) have all reportedly told Platini they would back his candidacy for FIFA president. The other two confederations are Africa's CAF and Oceania's OFC.
Former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon, one of the most influential figures in Asian soccer, told Reuters on Thursday he is entering the race to replace Sepp Blatter as president of football's world governing body.
UEFA president Michel Platini ruled himself out of the running for the most powerful job in football on Thursday, saying he "could not convince himself" that opposing incumbent Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency was the right thing to do.
An internal investigation of suspended FIFA President Joseph "Sepp" Blatter has found no evidence of corruption over a 2 million Swiss franc (1.3 million) payment to European football head Michel Platini, the Swiss newspaper Handelszeitung said on Wednesday.
UEFA head Michel Platini announced on Wednesday his intention to stand for presidency of FIFA in place of Sepp Blatter.
The Swiss is out of sight as FIFA corruption scandal deepens
FIFA chief Sepp Blatter, who is standing for re-election as FIFA president on Friday, added that the investigations will help to reinforce measures world soccer's governing body has already taken.
Unless the world of soccer shifts on its axis at the end of this month, Sepp Blatter will be re-elected as FIFA president.
FIFA's ethics panel said on Saturday it has formally given outgoing president Sepp Blatter and European soccer head Michel Platini the reasons for their eight-year bans from the game.
Prince Ali is standing against Sepp Baltter in Friday's election and although Blatter is strongly favoured to win.
Indian American Sunil Gulati, who is currently serving a record third term as President of the US Soccer Federation, could be in the race to replace Sepp Blatter as the new FIFA chief.
Former Honduran President Rafael Callejas pleaded guilty on Monday to U.S. charges that he participated in bribery schemes that are under investigation at soccer's world governing body FIFA.
FIFA denied on Tuesday that the top lieutenant of its President, Sepp Blatter, or any other member its senior management made $10 million in bank transactions.
"If there are people who don't like the organisation or don't like me, they will realise they have been wrong... they will realise that."
Banned European soccer boss president Michel Platini has withdrawn his candidacy from the race for the presidency of soccer's scandal-plagued governing body FIFA, he told French sports daily L'Equipe on Thursday.
Sepp Blatter was re-elected unopposed as FIFA president on Wednesday, promising to use his final term to radically reform football's ailing world governing body.
Another wildcard has entered the pack of candidates challenging Sepp Blatter for the presidency of FIFA in May's election -- Mino Raiola, a soccer agent whose clients include Mario Balotelli and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
English FA president Prince William called on FIFA to reform and show that "it can represent the interests of fair play" in a speech at the FA Cup final on Saturday.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has dismissed as "imagination and lies" any suggestion that he lobbied in favour of Aleksander Ceferin who was elected head of European soccer's governing body UEFA this week.
Michel Platini was banned for eight years in December along with FIFA president Sepp Blatter over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million) made to the Frenchman in 2011 by FIFA with Blatter's approval for work done a decade earlier.
Launching his bid in Paris, Chung told a news conference "Michel Platini was a great football player, and he is my friend. His problem is he does not seem to appreciate the seriousness of the corruption crisis at FIFA."
The Jordanian FA has begun legal inquiries into whether defeated FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin Al Hussein could replace Sepp Blatter.
Suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter appeared before the ethics committee of world football's governing body on Thursday in a case that could end with him banned from the sport for years.
Embattled FIFA President Sepp Blatter has told a Swiss newspaper that continental confederations, rather than soccer's world governing body, were to blame for the corruption scandal engulfing the game.
Jerome Champagne is out of the race after failing to win sufficient backing for his candidacy.
FIFA's Sepp Blatter may have been banned for eight years from the game but he is still receiving his president's salary from world soccer's governing body, a spokesman for FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee told Reuters on Monday.
Ex-South American soccer chief in FIFA scandal under house arrest.
- 'FIFA should have a leader with a lot of experience' -'Prince Ali is a good man, I work with him, I was a main supporter in the past, he is like my brother. He has a good future but I think he was in a little bit of a hurry. I think he needed to take the trust of Asia first before he earned the trust of the international community'
Two football bosses including a former president of Honduras pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to US charges they took bribes in exchange for media and marketing contracts in a scandal that has rocked the business of global football.
"I will use all my strength and inspiration until my last working day to bring this ship back into safe harbour," Blatter is quoted by Walliser Bote as saying.
Scandal-plagued FIFA may have avoided its current problems if Russia and Qatar had not been chosen as hosts of the next two World Cups, President Sepp Blatter said on Friday.
Canada, which is hosting the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, will not support incumbent Sepp Blatter in Friday's presidential vote at the FIFA Congress, the head of the Canadian Soccer Association said on Thursday on his official Twitter account.
Former England captain David Beckham has blasted FIFA over the 'despicable' corruption allegations .
