Blatter must "dry out this swamp" or be sacked Hoeness warns

By Duncan Mackay

January 5 – Sepp Blatter has again come under fire from a senior figure at Bayern Munich, this time from Uli Hoeness, the German club’s President.

He has joined in Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Bayern’s chief executive, who last month described the FIFA President as being like a slippery “eel” at the head of a “dictatorship”.

Hoeness has called for the removal of Blatter if he is unable to show how he intends to resolve the problem of corruption over the course of the next year.

“Blatter has to clearly state over the 12 months how he intends to dry out this swamp and if he fails there must be a possibility to remove him,” Hoeness told the Munich newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview published today to mark his 60th birthday.

Hoeness, who was capped 35 times by Germany and was a member of the side that won the World Cup in 1974, claimed that the recent claim by former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner that Blatter sold him television rights for only $1 (£0.65/€0.77) in return for supporting his Presidency was the final straw.

“Every week we have something new,” he said.

“The last events are the final proof for me that Blatter should not be given the time until the end of his term.

“We have been quiet for a while because we had the feeling that it was sorting itself out.

“But now we will once again put the matter on the boil.”

Contact the writer of this story at zib.l1734917511labto1734917511ofdlr1734917511owedi1734917511sni@y1734917511akcam1734917511.nacn1734917511ud1734917511