European soccer officials said on Thursday that they would not boycott an election that is widely expected to lead to a fifth term as FIFA president for Sepp Blatter, despite a criminal inquiry that has intensified their opposition to his candidacy.
After leading an emergency meeting earlier in the day with representatives from FIFA’s six regional confederations to discuss the inquiry, which has plunged soccer’s governing body into crisis mode, Blatter rebuffed a call from Michel Platini, Europe’s top soccer official, to step down.
Platini said a majority of the member countries in UEFA, which oversees soccer in Europe, would support the only challenger to Blatter, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, although the outcome of the election is widely seen as a foregone conclusion because of Blatter’s support among other federations, most notably in the developing world.