European soccer head asked Sepp Blatter to resign, but he said no
According to The Guardian, Blatter called an emergency meeting in wake of the arrests, and Michel Platini, president of UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, asked Blatter to resign.
Blatter reportedly refused to, with Platini saying, "I asked him to resign: enough is enough, Sepp. He listened to me but he told me it is too late."
The Guardian reported that Platini added, "Enough is enough. Too much is too much. In terms of our image it's not good at all. I am the first one to be disgusted by this. I am saying this with sadness, with tears in my eyes. There have been too many scandals that have shaken the world of football."
According to the Guardian, a UEFA source said when Platini asked Blatter to resign, Blatter said he would have considered it if he'd been asked to earlier.
The UEFA is reportedly united in their opposition to Blatter. Platini has said that a majority of the UEFA will vote for Blatter's competition, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, though it likely won't be a unanimous vote. Manchester United chief executive David Gill reportedly won't take seat as vice president of FIFA that he's supposed to inherit if Blatter wins his reelection.
Platini wouldn't rule out a European boycott of the World Cup, but Gill said that wouldn't help the cause, stating, "The fans like the World Cup, the fans like the big games so that's to me a measure of last resort and I don't think we will get there. We should ensure the World Cup goes on."
The FIFA presidential election is supposed to be held on Friday, though Europe's soccer chief Gianni Infantino called for a postponement on the election. Despite European opposition, Blatter is widely considered the favorite to win the election.