UEFA president Lennart Johansson called on Monday for Sepp Blatter to step down as FIFA president to help restore the reputation of world soccer's governing body.
"He must go for the sake of FIFA, for the sake of FIFA's integrity," Johansson said as the repercussions of general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen's staggering report to Friday's executive committee continued to reverberate around the world.
Meanwhile Blatter said during a one-day visit to the Chinese capital of Beijing en route to a short visit to North Korea that he believed he would still be re-elected as president at the FIFA Congress on May 29th in Seoul and that Zen-Ruffinen's report was "full of errors".
Blatter is standing against one opponent - Issa Hayatou of Cameroon, a FIFA vice-president and the president of CAF (the African Confederation) at the election in three weeks.
Blatter's presidency - and the integrity of FIFA - have come under the severest of tests since Zen-Ruffinen presented a 21-page dossier to an emergency meeting of the executive committee on Friday detailing what he said was possible criminal acts by Blatter during his four-year term as president.
Zen-Ruffinen has given Blatter a week to reply before he presents his file, representing "just the tip of the iceberg", to the Swiss penal authorities.
But Johansson said on Monday enough was enough.
"FIFA's good name will not be restored while he remains president. In any other modern organisation the size of FIFA, the leader would now have stood down on the evidence that is available. It is the decent thing to do," he said.