Blatter pranked, promises to step down in February

FIFA president Sep Blatter promised on Monday to step down in February and announced the creation of a new taskforce to address corruption in football's world governing body.

But as he announced at a news conference in Zurich that: "I will not be a candidate for the election in 2016," the 79-year-old was showered in fake cash by British comedian Lee Nelson, who was quickly hauled off stage.

Simon Brodkin, who performs under the stage name Lee Nelson, had placed the banknotes on Blatter's desk saying that he was representing a "North Korea 2026" bid for a World Cup. When security guards moved in, he said "here you go, Sepp," and hurled the fake currency into the air.

Earlier on Monday, FIFA announced its next presidential elections would take place on February 26 as the organization attempts to deal with alleged corruption in its ranks.

The 79-year-old won a fifth term as FIFA chief on May 29, two days after several colleagues were arrested in an FBI bribery investigation. Days later, however, Blatter stepped down amid accusations that the alleged wrongdoing had taken place on his watch.

A second criminal probe is underway in Switzerland, looking into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, to be held in Russia and Qatar respectively.

The FIFA president also said that an 11-person taskforce would oversee the introduction of enhanced integrity checks for executive committee members - carried out by the ethics committee. Blatter said the team would prepare their first proposals for the next executive committee meeting on September 24-25.

He also pledged to introduce a change he had rejected as recently as 2014, term limits for high-ranking FIFA officials of three four-year stints.

Platini leads contenders

UEFA sources said on Monday that four out of the world's six continental confederations would support Michel Platini if he made a bid for FIFA's presidency.

A source close to the 60-year-old French former midfielder said that he would decide within the next two weeks whether or not to run on February 26 next year.

"Platini knows that the decision must be taken quickly to close the door against any other challenger," the source said on Monday.

Following the reports of his potential candidacy, Platini was the bookmakers favorite in Britain on Monday, quoted at odds of 5-4 by William Hill, ahead of Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein at 7-4 - who was Blatter's challenger in June's vote.

Platini passed on the opportunity to run in this year's ballot, opting instead to claim another term at the head of UEFA in an unopposed vote.

mm/msh (AFP, AP, dpa)