Top official leaves FIFA as EU urges Blatter to go now

PARTING SHOT

De Gregorio's departure follows an appearance on Swiss TV when, at the end of the programme, he was asked to tell his favourite joke.

He replied: "The FIFA president, secretary general and media director are sitting in a car. Who's driving. Answer? The police."

A FIFA statement gave no reason for De Gregorio leaving what had become an increasingly thankless job of defending FIFA during the scandal.

"Walter has worked incredibly hard for the past four years and we are immensely grateful for all he has done," said FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke.

The race to succeed Blatter gathered a new challenger on Wednesday when soccer great Zico formally declared his candidacy for the FIFA presidency, but the Brazilian admitted his chances of success were limited.

Under FIFA rules he needs the backing of five countries affiliated to world soccer's governing body, which he does not yet have, while he said UEFA boss Michel Platini had advised him to run for head of the Brazilian Football Confederation instead.

The rules governing how the FIFA president is elected have come under the spotlight since the corruption scandal erupted, but any plans to alter the voting system are likely to meet stiff opposition.

Soccer chiefs in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean voiced concerns on Thursday at German proposals to change the one member one vote system and hand a greater influence to more established soccer power-houses.

The current system has been widely credited with providing Blatter with his power base as he ruled FIFA for 17 years, aided by votes from less prominent soccer nations that received development funds aimed at promoting the sport.

"If tomorrow one member association is going to be more equal than the other, then of course that is going to raise serious issues, and that would not be good for world football and that would not be good for FIFA," Pakistani soccer chief Faisal Saleh Hayat told Reuters.

Zimbabwe Football Association spokesman Xolisani Gwesela said it would be unfair for countries in Africa and the developing world not to have the same vote as Germany or England.

Raymond Tim Kee, head of the Trinidad and Tobago Soccer Federation, also opposed the German plan, saying: "Big nations will trample on small countries like us in the Caribbean."

Jacinto Reyes, President of the Nicaragua Football Federation, added: "I am totally against this attitude because we have always spoken about racial discrimination and this idea is also discrimination."

As the corruption scandal widened, Paraguay's congress approved a measure withdrawing immunity from the headquarters of South America's CONMEBOL soccer confederation.