A general view shows the remand prison in the town of Dielsdorf in the Canton of Zurich Monday. The seven soccer officials arrested in Zurich on corruption charges in an investigation linked to FIFA are in prisons in several towns in the Canton of Zurich according to Swiss media. — Reuters LONDON — One of the English Football Association's two independent directors has resigned from FIFA's anti-discrimination task force following Sepp Blatter's re-election as president of world football's global governing body. Heather Rabbatts said the corruption crisis engulfing FIFA was "disastrous" for its reputation and added it was "unacceptable" that so little reform of the organization had taken place. Rabbatts had been a member of FIFA's anti-discrimination task force chaired by Jeffrey Webb, the FIFA vice president from the Cayman Islands who was one of the seven FIFA officials arrested in Zurich on corruption charges last week. In her resignation letter to FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke, a copy of which was published by Britain's national Press Association agency, Rabbatts said: "I am withdrawing with immediate effect from the FIFA task force against racism and discrimination. "My willingness to play a part in the development of policies in this area is outweighed by the disastrous effect on FIFA's reputation of recent events." She added: "Like many in the game I find it unacceptable that so little has been done to reform FIFA and it is clear from the re-election of President Blatter that the challenges facing FIFA and the ongoing damage to the reputation of football's world governing body are bound to continue to overshadow and undermine the credibility of any work in the anti-discrimination arena and beyond." Rabbatts also said she would have written to Webb to tell him about her resignation "but as I understand he is currently not available, I am therefore sending this to you in your capacity as secretary general." As well as the arrest of seven FIFA officials, 18 other people connected to football were indicted on corruption charges by the US Department of Justice. EU urges FIFA to reform The European Union Monday called for FIFA to reform quickly in the wake of a corruption scandal engulfing football's governing body, saying that the sport's integrity was at stake. "Corruption has no place in sport," said Nathalie Vandystadt, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, the executive of the 28-nation EU. "FIFA has been given enough time and chances to reform. Now it's time for change. The integrity of football is at stake," Vandystadt told a news conference. "Millions of fans around the world have lost patience and they deserve better," she added while declining to comment on Sepp Blatter's re-election as the head of FIFA on Friday. Platini to lead Europe's fightback In the buildup to the Champions League final, Lionel Messi and Andrea Pirlo could be overshadowed by a star of the showpiece 30 years earlier: Michel Platini. As Barcelona and Juventus descend Berlin to contest European soccer's annual extravaganza Saturday, the UEFA president will be formulating the continent's fightback against Blatter's FIFA. Platini, a European Cup winner with Juventus in 1985 who helped Blatter first get elected in 1998, has put UEFA on a direct collision course with FIFA in what he says is a mission to restore credibility to the sport. Platini and UEFA led efforts to oust Blatter from power, supporting challenger Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan in Friday's election, but the 79-year-old Swiss official extended his 17-year grip on power. Platini will now lead a UEFA meeting in Berlin Friday to discuss its next move: begrudgingly put up with four more years of Blatter or seriously threaten a European exodus from FIFA. English soccer leaders have been long-standing critics of Blatter and are hoping for action from Platini. Blatter's daughter, Corinne, weighed in to defend her father's integrity Sunday and questioned why Platini ducked out of contesting the presidential election. "How can UEFA, who say they are the strongest confederation, not put up a candidate?" Corinne Blatter told the BBC. "If (Platini) was serious about it he should have (stood)." — Agencies
