Blatter exacts revenge on Zen-Ruffinen

Fifa president Sepp Blatter destroyed any remaining opposition to his power today by securing the departure of his chief critic and forcing legal action against him to be dropped.

General secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen, the chief organiser of the World Cup, will leave Fifa on 4 July once the tournament is over.

Perhaps more damaging to Blatter's opponents is that they have been forced to withdraw charges they brought against him in the Swiss courts alleging fraud.

Blatter is now in total control of world football and the actions effectively silence any opposition to him at all.

Blatter, who won a landslide victory in Wednesday's presidential election, had threatened to sack Zen-Ruffinen with immediate effect today - he said yesterday: "On Friday, I throw Zen-Ruffinen out the door. The executive committee is going to take care of 'Mr Clean'."

But concerns that such a move would have thrown the World Cup into chaos meant members of today's emergency executive committee meeting here in Seoul agreed he should leave after the tournament.

After the meeting, Fifa communications director Keith Cooper read a statement saying: "The Fifa executive committee meeting in Seoul on the opening day of the 2002 Fifa World Cup has reached an agreement with the general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen with regard to their contractual relationship.

"It was mutually agreed that this relationship should end on July 4, 2002. In the meantime, Mr Zen-Ruffinen will continue to be in charge of the operations of the Fifa World Cup and the meeting took place in a positive atmosphere.

"In addition, on a proposal by senior vice-president Julio Grondona those present at the meeting of the original 11 committee members who had initiated legal proceedings against Fifa president Mr Blatter in Zurich agreed this legal action would be withdrawn immediately."

The two most likely candidates to replace the general secretary, Fifa's most senior official, are financial director Urs Linsi and former marketing director Flavio Battaini.

Linsi is one of Blatter's closest aides, while Battaini was sacked by Zen-Ruffinen for alleged incompetence only for Blatter to give him a pay-off of 1.3 million Swiss francs (£600,000).