FIFA suspends secretary-general, Valcke, over ticket scam

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has been suspended indefinitely by the world football body.

A Fifa statement said it had “been made aware of a series of allegations involving the secretary general”.

Valcke, 54, had been implicated in a scheme to sell World Cup tickets for above face value.

The Frenchman, who has been FIFA’s scribe since 2007, said he denied the “fabricated, outrageous” allegations.

FIFA has been engulfed by claims of widespread corruption since May, when Swiss police raided a hotel in Zurich and arrested seven of its top executives.

United States officials have since indicted those seven and two other Fifa officials on bribery and racketeering charges.

President Sepp Blatter announced that he would stand down just days after winning re-election in June.

Valcke, who last month was considering standing to be the new president, is Blatter’s number two at the organisation.