The Asian Football Confederation has joined its African counterparts in "countering suggestions that it was in favour" of FIFA President Sepp Blatter staying on despite him announcing his intention to resign amid a major corruption scandal, according to the London GUARDIAN. Support for Blatter’s leadership has "traditionally been strong in the 46-nation Asian bloc but the AFC declined to throw its weight behind any push to keep the Swiss in power for a fifth term." In a statement, the AFC said, "With regard to recent media stories, the Asian Football Confederation confirms its position as previously outlined, namely that the AFC takes note of the Fifa president’s intention to step down at an extraordinary congress scheduled to be called later this year or early 2016, which will be the subject of the upcoming Fifa executive committee meeting" on July 20. The Confederation of African Football said on Monday that it "had not heard of any of its members asking Blatter to remain in office." CAF ExCo Member and FA of Zambia President Kalusha Bwalya said, "At CAF level we are not aware of any African countries who have written to ask Blatter to stay on" (GUARDIAN, 6/16).
