Dyke urges Platini to lead World Cup boycott
FOOTBALL Association chairman Greg Dyke has called on European chief Michel Platini to coordinate a major boycott of the 2018 World Cup in protest at embattled world governing body Fifa.
Dyke believes Holland and Germany would be prepared to join England in refusing to play the tournament but insists it would take Uefa president Platini to lead widespread action.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter won a fifth election on Friday to secure his position for another four years despite a week of turmoil that saw seven officials from the organisation indicted on corruption charges.
“There would certainly be us, there would certainly be the Dutch, there would certainly be the Germans, who have been demanding change and would demand change,” Dyke said.
“They [Fifa] would only take serious action if there’s enough [opposition] because otherwise it’s pointless. There’s absolutely no point England saying: ‘We’re not going to take part, we’re going to boycott it’, because our fans and players would not thank us for it and it would have no impact. If we could get 10 large countries to do the same thing then I think you could have a big impact.”
Platini has urged Blatter to step down and refused to rule out the possibility of a European boycott of the World Cup, which is due to be staged in Russia in three years’ time.
Uefa publicly supported Blatter’s opponent, Prince Ali of Jordan, although suggestions have emerged that around 20 European football associations, including Russia, Spain and Platini’s home country France, voted to retain the 79-year-old incumbent.
Dyke added: “It does require real leadership and Mr Platini has now got to stand up. He stood up and criticised Sepp Blatter; he’s now got to lead the opposition.”
The seven Fifa officials seized in dawn raids in Switzerland on Wednesday were among 14 people indicted by the United States justice department, which is investigating claims of bribery, money-laundering and racketeering which it says totals more than $150m.