Fifa corruption arrests: Gary Lineker calls world football group 'nauseating and embarrassing'

Former England footballer also questioned Sep Blatter's leadership

Lineker has rounded on Fifa (Getty )

Former England footballer and Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker has called Fifa, the organisation that runs world football, “nauseating” and an “embarrassment”.

Yesterday seven senior Fifa officials were arrested in Switzerland, just days before the body is due to elect its president, as an international investigation into corruption within Fifa gathers pace – and headlines.

The former footballer, 54, and winner of the world’s Golden Boot in 1986, said it was time for major footballing nations to walk away from the “nauseating pollution of the world’s game”.

In a searing personal attack on Fifa president Sep Blatter, Lineker claimed the Fifa boss ran the organisation like his “own fiefdom”.

Lineker added: “How can this man stay in charge when his organisation has been found to be so bereft of decency?”

“It is completely nauseating to be involved in football and have to suffer this on-going embarrassment to the game that is the governing body,” he told the BBC.

US attorney general Loretta Lynch said the indictment alleges corruption is “rampant, systemic and deep-rooted”. The indictment also claims that marketing officials and executives paid out as much as $150 million in bribes.