New Zealand football chief hopes Blatter stays away from U20 World Cup

New Zealand Football (NZF) made it clear on Wednesday that embattled FIFA boss Sepp Blatter was not welcome at the Under-20 World Cup currently being staged in the South Pacific nation.

Blatter was scheduled to visit New Zealand for the final of FIFA's premier youth tournament on June 20 but NZF chief executive Andy Martin said the plans were now unclear after the Swiss supremo's surprise resignation.

Martin, who voted against Blatter at last week's presidential election in Zurich, said he hoped the game's top administrator stayed away.

"We haven't had anything confirmed. You'd like to think he wouldn't (make the trip) but who knows?" he told RadioSport.

"If he does come down, the danger is it become a sideshow to the main event, which is the competition."

Martin could not explain why Blatter announced he was quitting so soon after defying critics to secure a new term, saying he expected the situation would become clearer in coming days.

"These allegations are hotting up, they're getting closer and closer to him," the New Zealander said.

"Whether or not he's directly implicated over the next few days is unsure, but there's clearly something going on in the backdrop that's going to change the dynamic considerably in the next few days."

Martin said it was too early to anoint Blatter's successor, but was impressed with Prince Ali bin al Hussein of Jordan, who secured New Zealand's vote last week.

"If somebody's going to beat Prince Ali then they're going to have to be very good," he said.

"We were very impressed with his manifesto and his ambition and his desire to put FIFA in a good place."

New Zealand last week became the only member of the 11-member Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) to publicly snub Blatter after years of support.

The Auckland-based OFC, the smallest and weakest of FIFA's six regional groupings, on Wednesday refused to comment on Blatter's resignation.
Source: AFP