Pele: Time to clean FIFA from top to bottom
Reuters - Friday 20 January 2012, 14:33
The time has come to clean up football's governing body FIFA "from top to bottom," three-times
world champion Pele said on Friday.
Asked in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde about
corruption in Brazilian football, Pele said: "There is some
clean-up that needs to be done, but not only in Brazilian
football.
"Now is a good time to clean up FIFA, from top to bottom."
FIFA has been plagued by corruption allegations in recent
years, most notably with former Asian Confederation chief
Mohamed Bin Hammam serving a lifetime ban after being accused of
bribery while he was bidding to succeed FIFA President Sepp
Blatter last year.
Bin Hamman withdrew from the race and Blatter, who later
sparked a furore over comments about racism, was re-elected
unopposed for a third term.
Pele, who won the World Cup in 1958, 1962 and 1970, also
dismissed Argentine prodigy Lionel Messi as a potential threat
to his legacy as arguably the world's greatest ever player.
"He is a great player. When he'll have scored 1,283 goals
and won three World Cups, we'll talk about it again," he said.