Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini will avoid coming face-to-face on Saturday, amid the football corruption scandal after a UEFA-FIFA match was called off.
Blatter, the FIFA president, would usually travel to Platini’s UEFA headquarters in Nyon for the friendly game between the governing bodies.
“In a joint decision, it was agreed to postpone the UEFA-FIFA challenge 2015, which had been scheduled for Friday, 2 October (local time), until further notice,” FIFA said in a statement.
The game would have come a week after a criminal investigation was opened into Blatter, in part over a payment in 2011 to Platini.
Blatter is being investigated as a suspect, while Platini is being treated “between a witness and an accused person,” according to Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber.
The rift between former close allies Blatter and Platini widened recently when UEFA complained to FIFA about a document being distributed that attempted to discredit its president, leading to the departure of one of Blatter’s staff.
Platini is vying to replace Blatter in the emergency FIFA election in February. To stand in the election, Platini has to pass FIFA integrity checks after the October 26 cut-off for the submission of candidacies.
Platini has faced scrutiny from some national associations in Europe over why he was paid 2 million Swiss francs (NZ$3.2 million) by FIFA in 2011 for work carried out up to 2002.
“Events of recent days have raised a number of issues which do need to be fully examined,” the English Football Association said after discussing Platini at a board meeting on Thursday.
