FIFA cancels Sepp Blatter press conference five minutes before start
FIFA cancelled a news conference at its FIFA headquarters at the last minute today, leaving a question mark over outgoing president Sepp Blatter's reason for not facing the media.
Around 170 media had been accredited for the news conference in Zurich and were only told of the cancellation five minutes before it was due to start.
It followed a FIFA executive committee this morning where a number of decisions were taken.
These included moving the venue of the next meeting from Japan to Zurich. Japan has an extradition treaty with the United States and Blatter and several other officials are fearful of possible arrest.
The committee also ratified a decision taken in March that the winter World Cup in Qatar in 2022 will be held over 28 days between November 21 and December 18, making it the shortest tournament in decades.
FIFA's executive committee also agreed in principle to allow the ethics committee to give more details about its findings and to name those under investigation.
FIFA member Angel Villar Llona and former member Franz Beckenbauer are understood to be among those under investigation over the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups but the ethics committee has refused to confirm any names or details.
A FIFA statement said: "In regard to the proposed amendments to article 36 of the FIFA code of ethics to allow the independent ethics committee to publish more information about its proceedings, the executive committee declared its support in principle and asked the FIFA legal committee for a final deliberation ahead of the next executive committee meeting.
"The independent chairmen of the committee's two chambers, Hans-Joachim Eckert and Cornel Borbely, had advocated this change in the interest of transparency and understanding of their work."
