FIFA's audit and ethics committee chairman Domenico Scala has urged Sepp Blatter to go through with his decision to step down as president of the scandal-hit organisation.
Reports emerged earlier today suggesting that the Swiss, who won a fifth term in charge of football's world governing body before stepping down amid corruption claims earlier this month, could make a dramatic U-turn and remain at the helm.
Blatter is due to leave office once a replacement is selected in December, although Swiss paper Schweiz am Sonntag suggests that the 79-year-old is no longer committed to his resignation plans.
However, a former special advisor to the controversial figure has insisted that Blatter simply must step aside.
"For me, the reforms are the central topic," Scala said in a short statement. "That is why I think it is clearly indispensable to follow through with the initiated process of president's change as it has been announced."
An election to appoint a successor to Blatter, should he officially leave the role he has occupied since 1998, is likely to take place on December 16.
Daniel Lewis
