FIFA suspends senior officials

ZURICH (AP):

FIFA provisionally suspended two executive committee members and four lower-ranked officials yesterday in a World Cup vote-selling scandal and will continue investigating all six.

Executive committee members Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii from Tahiti are barred from all football-related duty until the probe ends, said Claudio Sulser, chairman of FIFA's ethics committee. His panel is scheduled to meet again between November 15 and 17.

Four former execs

Four former executive members - Slim Aloulou, Amadou Diakite, Ahongalu Fusimalohi and Ismael Bhamjee - have also been suspended while FIFA investigates whether they breached ethical rules.

FIFA's ethics panel will also continue investigating whether two unnamed bidders competing for either the 2018 and 2022 World Cups engaged in collusion.

"Today is a sad day for football," FIFA president Sepp Blatter said, asking for time to restore FIFA's credibility. "We have to fight for respect and especially we have to fight that the people here in charge of FIFA behave as they should do. Our society is full of devils and these devils you find them in football."