Calls for FIFA's Blatter to quit as global anger builds

FIFA's veteran president Sepp Blatter faced angry demands to resign after US indictments and arrests of top lieutenants engulfed the football supremo in crisis heading into an annual congress May 28.

As Blatter prepared to open the congress in Switzerland, top sponsors who pour millions into world football -- including Coca-Cola, Adidas, McDonald's and Visa -- pressed the global body to clean itself up.    

Visa said that unless FIFA rebuilds a corporate culture with "strong ethical practices" at its heart, "we have informed them that we will reassess our sponsorship".
 
FIFA was adamant that despite the arrests early May 27 of the seven officials in a luxury Zurich hotel, its congress and leadership vote would go ahead as planned this week.
 
But leading figures in the global game, as well as newspapers around the world, said such a stand was untenable after US prosecutors said their investigation had unearthed the "World Cup of fraud".
 
US authorities said nine football officials were among 14 people facing up to 20 years in jail if found guilty in the long-running corruption case involving more than $150 million in bribes.    

The US investigation said South African officials paid $10 million in bribes to host the 2010 tournament, while Swiss investigators raided FIFA's Zurich headquarters as part of an investigation into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.
 
"Sepp Blatter has to go as FIFA president," said Greg Dyke, chairman of the English Football Association, which lost out to Russia for the 2018 tournament amid allegations of bribery in the bidding process.
 
"There is no way of rebuilding trust in FIFA while Sepp Blatter is still there... He either...