Football’s most powerful man quizzed by Swiss authorities over £1.3 million payment to Uefa boss

bodies and authorities in their investigative work and therefore co-operated fully. Regarding the payment that was made to me, I wish to state that this amount relates to work which I carried out under a contract with Fifa and I was pleased to have been able to clarify all matters relating to this with the authorities.”

Investigators will seek to establish whether the £1.3 million payment was for legitimate work conducted during that period, and if so, why it took nine years for the money to be transferred. Sources within the Football Association, which recently endorsed Mr Platini’s bid for the presidency, said its position had not changed.

The second strand of the Swiss investigation into Mr Blatter concerns al- legations of “financial mismanagement or misappropriation” in connection with a television rights deal he signed in 2005 with Mr Warner, then president of the Caribbean Football Union.

The allegations are understood to centre on claims that Mr Blatter sold the regional rights to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa for far below the market value, allowing Mr Warner to sell them on at a large profit.

Fifa sources said Mr Blatter would not be suspended from his role.

Mr Blatter’s US lawyer insisted his client had nothing to hide and was cooperating fully with investigators. Attorney Richard Cullen said the television rights contract had been “properly prepared and negotiated by the appropriate staff members of Fifa. Certainly no mismanagement occurred”.