Blatter condemns 'hate campaign'

Newly-elected Fifa president Sepp Blatter said he will not forget the "hate campaign" launched against him by Uefa, who have called for him to resign.

Mr Blatter beat rival prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan to secure a fifth term as president, but only after more than a third of the 209 footballing association members turned on him following the crisis that has struck the world governing body this week.

Uefa president Michel Platini personally asked Blatter to resign over the corruption scandal, and appealed for members to vote him out at yesterday's closely watched election battle.

His calls were echoed by England's Football Association and Prime Minister David Cameron, who said it was "unthinkable" that Mr Blatter could lead the change needed to restore Fifa's tattered reputation.

The Swiss bureaucrat hit back saying: "It is a hate that comes not just from a person at Uefa - it comes from the Uefa organisation that cannot understand that in 1998 I became president."

Asked if he would forgive Platini, Blatter told Swiss TV station RTS: "I forgive everyone but I do not forget."

He suggested the timing of a police swoop at a Zurich hotel on Wednesday, when seven Fifa football officials were arrested in connection with decades of alleged rampant corruption and fraud, was "an attempt to interfere with the congress".

He added: "I am not certain but it doesn't smell good."

Britain's David Gill has refused to take up his vice-presidency position following Mr Blatter's re-election, shunning the leader's first meeting of his executive committee today.

Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has vowed to continue the opposition to Blatter.

Mr Dyke claimed Blatter had been given "a bloody nose'' and that he would be surprised to see him still in power in two years' time.

Blatter won the first round by 133 votes to 73 and prince Ali decided to withdraw ahead of the second round.

It comes as the US Justice Department, which has so far charged 18 people over corruption allegations linked to marketing deals and World Cup votes, said more arrests could follow.

Swiss authorities, who are leading the investigation in to the allocation of the two forthcoming World Cups, said they were prepared to question Mr Blatter and Mr Platini if necessary.

A spokesman told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that the public "don't have to be afraid of (Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General) not being in a position to call them in if we feel the need to have them".