Blatter resignation a 'positive move'

A day after FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he would step down from the hot seat after renewed criticism of his reign and new corruption revelations about FIFA, his decision was greeted as a first step to a positive direction on Wednesday.

The Swiss official, who has ruled football's governing body for 17 years, said he would remain in charge until a special congress can choose a new leader and vowed to pursue strong reforms in that time.

"I do not feel that I have a mandate from the entire world of football," said the 79-year-old while peaking impassively at FIFA headquarters in Zurich on Tuesday, four days after winning a fifth team as FIFA president.

"That election is over but FIFA's challenges are not. FIFA needs a profound overhaul," he added.

UEFA chief Michel Platini, a former ally who last week told Blatter to his face that he should leave, said: "It was a difficult decision, a brave decision, and the right decision."

A special congress to choose his replacement cannot be held until between December 2015 and March 2016, according to Domenico Scala, chairman of FIFA's independent audit and compliance committee.

Romario, the Brazilian football great turned politician, called Blatter's announcement the "best news for ages!"

The EU said Blatter's resignation was just "one step in a long process" to reform FIFA and restore trust in football's governing body.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday hailed the shock resignation of Blatter as a step to help restore transparency in its corruption-tainted governing body.

"I think that for billions of football fans it is an important message for all of us who like football -- and I, too, am a fan -- that the world football organisation can be run according to the standards we wish for," she said.

Credit card giant Visa, which warned last week it might withdraw its sponsorship, said Blatter's resignation was "a significant first step towards rebuilding public trust" but added: "More work lies ahead."

Blatter took over an international federation facing financial difficulties and turned it into a money-spinning operation that, between the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, made $5.7 billion. FIFA now has a cash mountain of $1.5 billion.

Blatter's shock resignation has sparked speculation that the 79-year-old was also under investigation over allegations of more than $150 million in bribes.

America's top law enforcer Loretta Lynch, who led the corruption indictments of nine football officials last week, refused to be drawn Wednesday as to whether or not Blatter was under investigation.

"We are not able to comment further at this point," Lynch said at talks in Riga with her EU counterparts when asked if Blatter was under investigation.

"We will now be speaking through the courts," Lynch said ominously. "The investigation is ongoing."

Interpol on Wednesday put disgraced FIFA former executive members Jack Warner and Nicolas Leoz on their most wanted list and issued an international alert.

With the scandal at football's governing body raging, the upper house of Switzerland's parliament voted through a bill Wednesday dubbed "Lex FIFA".

The bill was voted through the Senate and it makes it possible for federal prosecutors to launch corruption probes against FIFA and around 60 other Swiss-based international sporting federations, including the International Olympic Committee.

A separate Swiss investigation is meanwhile looking into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments to Russia and Qatar respectively.

Meanwhile, South Africa on Wednesday said the $10 million that US authorities allege was a bribe paid to host the 2010 World Cup was a fully-approved payment to support football among the "African diaspora" in the Caribbean.

"The fact that a payment of $10 million was made to an approved programme above board does not equate to bribery," South Africa's Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said. "Those who allege should prove their allegations."

"We refuse to be caught up in a battle of the United States authorities and FIFA," Mbalula told a press conference in Johannesburg.

"Our purpose and intent is to ensure that we respond to the allegations levelled at our country, government and its citizens.

"We therefore wish to categorically deny that our country and government have bribed anyone to secure the rights to the 2010 FIFA World Cup."

The US indictment said that a FIFA official authorised the $10 million payment to Jack Warner, then president of the confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf).

According to the indictment, bundles of cash in a briefcase were also handed over at a Paris hotel as a bribe by a "high-ranking South African bid committee official".

The cash was allegedly later handed to Warner.

Thabo Mbeki, who was president when South Africa won the bid in 2004, has also denied that any bribes were paid to secure the World Cup.