Own goal

The most senior paid official of Fifa, world football's governing body, has submitted to a Swiss court a 300-page document alleging financial misconduct involving its president, Sepp Blatter. Five of Fifa's seven vice-presidents have backed a legal case against Mr Blatter, who denies the allegations. Yet by breakfast time today, the Swiss ex-army colonel, buoyed by votes of those national federations that have benefited from development programmes he has pushed through, will almost certainly have succeeded in his campaign for re-election.

Those who fear for the future of an organisation dogged by allegations of financial mismanagement will not have been encouraged by the final day of campaigning. When Mr Blatter's critics attempted to contribute to a debate on Fifa's finances in Seoul yesterday, he simply refused to allow them to speak. His re-election will have been a mistake, given the strength of the rumours and allegations swirling around him. It is an unfortunate prelude to the World Cup.