Interpol ditches Fifa deal as graft scandal deepens

Interpol suspended a 20-million-euro sports "integrity" agreement with Fifa on Friday, at the end of testing week for soccer's scandal-hit ruling body that saw its chief spokesman quit, bidding for the 2026 World Cup shelved and records seized from its Zurich headquarters.

Fifa also faced growing calls – this time from the European parliament – for its outgoing president, Sepp Blatter, to step aside at once, while plans by Germany to reform the way the organisation is run were roundly rejected by soccer chiefs in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Interpol's decision to freeze funding from Fifa to fight match fixing and illegal gambling was perhaps inevitable, days after the international police organisation put two former Fifa officials on its most-wanted list and the corruption crisis in world soccer deepened. The increasing damage to Fifa's reputation raised questions about how long other associated bodies would continue to work with it.