England's football chiefs rounded on FIFA president Sepp Blatter yesterday telling him he must stand down next year and that his claim racism was behind World Cup corruption allegations was "offensive and totally unacceptable".
FA chairman Greg Dyke responded forcefully to Blatter at a meeting of UEFA federations in Sao Paulo after the FIFA president had addressed the room indicating he would stand again for a fifth term.
Dyke and England's UEFA vice-president David Gill both said Blatter should not commit a U-turn on his 2011 pledge to stand down in 2015.
They were at the forefront of a European rebellion against Blatter, despite the incumbent president appearing to have huge support in other continental confederations.
Dyke said after the meeting: "What Mr Blatter said yesterday I found offensive. I said (to him), 'I regard the comments you made yesterday about the allegations in the British media in which you described them as racist as totally unacceptable.
"The allegations being made have nothing to do with racism, they are allegations about corruption within FIFA. These allegations need to be properly investigated and answered."
UEFA's growing unhappiness also saw Dutch FA chief Michael van Praag, Germany FA president Wolfgang Niersbach and Norway's executive committee member Karen Espelund calling on the 78-year-old not to stand for a fifth term.
Van Praag told Blatter he had to take responsibility for all the bad publicity surrounding the world governing body.
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