As Blatter treks across Africa in an increasingly desperate quest for support, FIFA has been plunged into its greatest crisis;

SPORTSMAIL EXCLUSIVE ON THE STORY THAT HAS STUNNED SOCCER

BYLINE: Martin Lipton

WORLD football was plunged into the biggest crisis of its 98-year history last night as embattled FIFA president Sepp Blatter ended any pretence of democracy in the running of the game.

While Blatter continued to career around Africa in search of votes to aid his re-election campaign under the challenge of Cameroon’s Issa Hayatou, FIFA House in Zurich was in a state of near chaos after his sidelining of general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen.

By publicly over- ruling Zen-Ruffinen’s role as the arbiter of FIFA statutes after the general secretary intervened in a row that has split the CONCACAF region, Blatter demonstrated that he is turning the game’s governing body into a private dictatorship.

Instead of consulting the nominallyruling executive committee, Blatter called next month’s extraordinary Congress – FIFA’s parliament of the 204 national associations – in Seoul after a request orchestrated by his crony, the tarnished Jack Warner of Trinidad.

Now, after Zen-Ruffinen decided Warner’s attempt to block a challenge to his leadership of CONCACAF by Mexico’s 1990 World Cup Final referee Edgardo Codesal should be referred to FIFA’s legal affairs bureau – due to meet today – Blatter arbitrarily cancelled the meeting late on Monday evening.

That decision, taken by Blatter as he scuttled between Swaziland, Mozambique and Malawi in search of support, proved once and for all that the president is directly linked with the stench of corruption involving TV rights, ticket distribution and alleged visa irregularities, which hangs over CONCACAF, Warner and the Confederation’s general secretary, Chuck Blazer of the United States. Although there is a lack of personal warmth between Blatter and Blazer, those feelings have clearly been put to one side as the Swiss decides any tactics are acceptable to bolster his position.

A furious Blazer earlier demanded Zen-Ruffinen’s resignation after the general secretary had made his decision, and Blatter’s intervention underlines the cancer which is at the core of FIFA as he effectively transformed the governing body into his personal fiefdom.

Blazer, aided and abetted by FIFA’s head of finance Urs Linzi – a member of the sinister-sounding F-Gruppe (Fuhrungs-Gruppe) set up by Blatter as an inner cabinet – has been actively attempting to disrupt the internal audit committee investigating FIFA’s parlous finances in the wake of the GBP 278million collapse of marketing partner ISL and Blatter’s role in the crisis.

The third meeting of the committee – headed by Scotland’s David Will – is due to take place today.

Challenged over Blazer’s conduct, Blatter told Sportsmail: ‘I’m not involved in this matter and know nothing about what Mr Blazer is doing. I’m totally out of the work and have only said to the chairman that I want to clarify everything, because I have nothing to hide.’ Yet Blatter’s critics believe otherwise. Inside the bitterly divided FIFA House it is felt Linzi holds the secrets to the collapsing finances of the organisation and there have been allegations that documents have gone missing from offices.

The F- Gruppe also includes Helen Petermann, Blatter’s personal assistant, and another Blatter man, personnel officer Mikael Schallert, while here in Africa there is ample evidence that the powerbase inside FIFA House has shifted from the normal government of the organisation to the inner cabinet.

Heading Blatter’s coterie on his 11-nation safari is former French Foreign Ministry diplomat Jerome Champagne, along with presidential spokesman Markus Siegler.

Qatar’s Mohamed bin Hamman claimed in Johannesburg on Monday that he had approached Saleh Abdullah Kamel, head of the Saudi-based Dallah Avco corporation – believed by America’s FBI to have helped fund the Al Qaeda terrorist network which committed the September 11 atrocities – to jointly pay for the hire of the Gulfstream III jet Blatter is using this week. But last night, Dallah Avco confirmed to Sportsmail that Champagne had also been involved in the hiring of the jet.