Football: England to boycott World Cup?

Sepp Blatter's reappointment as Fifa president has caused concern in the football world. Photo / Getty

England are considering boycotting the World Cup after Sepp Blatter won a fifth term as president of world football's governing body.

Blatter beat his rival, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, in a secret ballot to continue as head of Fifa, despite calls for him to resign as the organisation is engulfed by allegations of bribery.

Greg Dyke, the head of the FA, said England should consider pulling out of the World Cup.

"There is no point in one or two countries saying, 'We're not going to take part' because they will carry on with the tournament without them and that is pretty unfair on the fans," he said. "But if Uefa as a group said, 'Look, unless you get this sorted we are not going to be in the World Cup', then I think that we would join them."

In comments backed by the British Prime Minister, Dyke has also called for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting votes to be rerun - which may open the door for England to be awarded one of the tournaments.

Before the decision, David Cameron had called on Blatter to quit as president.

David Bernstein, Dyke's predecessor as FA chairman, called for high-profile footballers and clubs to speak up against an organisation he describes as a "quasi-totalitarian set-up" that "reminds me of the old Soviet empire".

Writing for The Daily Telegraph, Bernstein says Fifa "has gone beyond the point of ridicule", describing as "laughable" the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, "a country with a tiny population, a climate that is absolutely inappropriate for such play".

Bernstein joined calls for the national football associations of Europe to come together to boycott the World Cup. "The competition would be fatally weakened without the participation of Uefa, and this would create the pressure for change that we all want."

David Ginola, the former French international footballer, said Blatter's victory was farcical. "It looks to me we are watching a very bad reality television show," he said.

"People have been arrested, there is an FBI investigation towards Fifa. I mean, I don't know what we're talking about. I saw people standing in the audience applauding! Is it a joke?"