needs u.e.f.a. but at the same time u.e.f.a. needs f.i.f.a. he wrapped up the press conference saying that is it. there'll be more to come. >> thank you so much phil lavelle in zurich. let's continue the discussion with rahal. watching this i guess the bottom line is as he said he has no intention of stepping down. clearly doesn't feel that he's responsible for any of the problems. the slots will go on. >> it will be a 32-team tournament. i'll read a quote from sepp blatter. we'll fruit f.i.f.a. back on the right course in clear transparent waters. we need some time to do it but we'll do it. this was from a victory speech in 2011. we heard all of this before. nothing has changed. a sournalized -- journalist talked about a culture of corruption and that has not changed. are we to believe he is the man to change it. we think they'll find it difficult to blef. he said he did a lot of change. there has been a lot of people that left f.i.f.a. can he continue to steer the ship. now, with the rumblings in u.e.f.a. and sponsors and so on. >> for those

. >> there's a u.e.f.a. meeting and we'll discussion what the u.e.f.a. position will be decided by all of us. >> reporter: what is your own decision? >> personally i think probably not. >> reporter: why not? >> i think another could win, and we have achieved what we came to do say goodbye to mr blatter. >> reporter: (inaudible). >> f.i.f.a. took a battering. it now needs a totally different leadership and therefore the most important thing for f.i.f.a. is that mr blatter, after many years, steps down and someone else takes his place, someone that believes in transparency and honesty. >> okay thank you very much >>> that happened in zurich. you're with the al jazeera newshour and we have more coming including the european governing body meeting to discuss the fall out from the f.i.f.a. arrests >>> plus - after the flooding is clean-up. crews face a massive task in houston. >> and stealing the show how the n.b.a.'s player of the season. steph curry, was overshadowed by a 2-year-old. details in sport. >>> first the malaysian government things 139 victims of

u.e.f.a., as you said in a meeting now. they'll decide whether or not to boycott the entire thing, and there are people significant figures in european football suggesting that countries like spain, france italy and germany should potentially threaten to breakaway from f.i.f.a. entirely. separately major corporate sponsors big global brands who have given vast amounts of money to world cups are saying that they don't want it to carry on. these things are crucial to an organization that gets more than 90% of financial support from the world cup, and i think it is becoming difficult for sepp blatter to say that he has the confidence of all these very very important figures inside f.i.f.a. and whether he could carry on in the coming hours is very difficult to say one way for the other at the moment. >> you know 24 hours ago the director of communications said the presidential vote will go ahead on friday. is that the sense that you are getting. what are people's reactions to what is going on and also would u.e.f.a. possibly bo

u.e.f.a. whose chief called for the election to be postponed for six months. the english chairman believes that the prince can beat blatter in the elections. >> f.i.f.a. has taken a battering, and it now needs a hotelly different heardship and the important thing for f.i.f.a. is sepp blatter sustains down and someone takes his place, someone this believes in transparency and honesty. >> let's cross to laurence lee, joining us from zurich to tell us where sepp blatter is and what is happening in the ooufa meeting. >> [ laughs ] i wish i knew. >> that is still taking place. >> since sepp blatter didn't attend the f.i.f.a. medical conference this morning, and then vanished it seemed impossible not to believe that he wasn't casting around to figure out how much support he's likely to get in the event of the election due to be held over the weekend. it goes some way to explaining why he's been holding an emergency meeting, to see what sort of confidence he can still achieve. the main grouping that

needs u.e.f.a. but u.e.f.a. needs f.i.f.a. as well. >>> chinese claims over a larger part of the south china sea are dominating a maritime security meeting. several governments saying they have rights to different parts of the waters and u.s. defense secretary criticized china for the way it's trying to mark out its territory. >> reporter: angering the chinese, a u.s. patrol plane flies over disputed waters capturing a portion of the chinese reclamation in the area. china built at least 7 man made ilts. the u.s. calls the activity unprecedented. and at an asia pacific conference ash carter criticized china's aggressive innocence. with actions in the sea, china is out of step with rules and norms underscoring architecture. >> china disagrees, and hassing nurse pleas for it to stop. as far as china is concerned. china is causing problem. >> it's groundless to organise china. china has never taken a proactive measure. disputes have been there for decades. and over the past decades it has been stable because china's great restrain

. >> there's talk of u.e.f.a. boycotting the world cup. how would you feel as a footballer if told "sorry you are not going to play." >> devastated. you try to build your career to the tournaments. i was fortunate i went to the european championships, it was the pinnacle of my career of the to have it taken away will be devastating. then you look at u.e.f.a. yes, they are the ones saying that. we have south america, north america. asia africa oceania. they are huge groups that have more power. that's where the vote went. as a player it would be devastating. >> reporter: if f.i.f.a. is as riddled as it is why are you not hearing current players speaking out about this. what is stopping them? >> for me is looks like the way it's structured. the voting the executive committees and you have to look at the marketing rights for the world cups. the amount of money involved is incredible. as a player, we want to play football. we want to go out, put the ball in the back of the net. >> are you told to play football keep your nose out of politics. >

u.e.f.a. is the biggest and the richest one. you have the best competition, and the best players, but when it comes to clubs. if you don't have the players, they would not be so rich in football. they have to be an example. not only to save f.i.f.a. they should help and come in and take responsibility. and the responsibility you cannot take when you are elected, you don't come to the first meeting. this is no responsibility >>> in the same news conference that blatter announced. inspection from f.i.f.a. news could rule them out of the 2018 world cup. the indonesian fa has been punished to interference leading to street protests after the domestic league was cancelled this month. indonesia's national team were due to start the world cup qualifying campaign in less than two weeks time. they are being allowed to compete at the ongoing south-east asian games. >> sepp blatter continues to fend off criticism from many nations, one continent where his population has never wavered is africa. he took the world cup to them in 2010 and fun

the management problem is the warning by the u.e.f.a. president. he threatened to pool european teams out of the world cup offer the way corruption has run through f.i.f.a. there's the ongoing investigation sparked by the rest of top f.i.f.a. officials in switzerland, and on top of all of this outcomes from investigations may impact upcoming world cups in russia in 2018 and qatar in 2022. the changes are likely to dog him as he extends his reign as the f.i.f.a. boss. andy richardson reports. >> reporter: it was a confused and somewhat anti-climatic end to a tumultuous week for f.i.f.a. and sepp blatter. the prince that wanted to be king of world football couldn't quite get the votes he needed and sepp blatter was due to begin a fifth term. >> i thank you that you accepted me that for the next four years, i will be in command of this boat called f.i.f.a. >> wednesday, zurich was where several f.i.f.a. officials were arrested. where headquarters were raided by the police. now they hoped the promise of a fresh start could win. the jordanians thinly ve

and european's governing body u.e.f.a. who backed sepp blatter's rival.> you have the best competition and players. when it comes to clubs, if you don't have the players from other continents they will not be so rich or good in football. they have to be an champ also not only to save f.i.f.a. they shall help and come in and take responsibility and responsibility you cannot take when you are elected and don't come to the first meeting. this is no responsibility. you are elected, you have to come. whoever is the president of f.i.f.a. >>> blatter has loyal support in many countries behind european borders, and that's why he was able to survive a week seeing 7 high-ranking f.i.f.a. members on suspicion of corruption much the thoughts of resigning, he said never crossed his mind. >> congress is of the opinion that i am still the man to go into these problems and to solve these problems. >> reporter: u.e.f.a. may find it ironic to be told to set an example by the head of an organization that has 7 senior officials in a swiss prison on corruption charges. u.e.f.

u.e.f.a. countries will meet in berlin on saturday. the topic of pulling out of f.i.f.a. will be discussed. >>> now for the fans it's going to take more than any scandal for world cup soccer. football mania to go away >>> to give you a sense of how big this is globally look no further than the fan base. soccer which the rest of the world calls football boasts more than 3 billion worldwide. it's under half the world's population. we don't have figures for the last year world cup final in brazil. but the previous one in 2010 drew an estimated 900 million, and that doesn't count people watching in bars or videos. compare that to the 114 million who tuned in to watch the super bowl, and you get an idea of soccer's reach and power. all the soccer eye balls translate into serious cash f.i.f.a.'s revenues have gone from strength to strength clocking in at 4.8 billion, half of that coming from the world cup tournament. there is more at stake than the bottom line. in many countries, soccer is the embody. and expression of national pride. when a team plays in the world cup, cities

. >> reporter: u.e.f.a.d it ironic that the head of this federation has 7 officials in prison. u.e.f.a. member countries will meet in berlin next saturday. the topic of pulling out of the f.i.f.a. will be disdiscussed. >>> time is quickly running out for the patriot act. coming up, a fight over extending the surveillance law. law. >>> it's saturday night, time to look at the patriot act, the senate returning to washington for a weekend session, while trying to decide whether to extend key parts, they are at odds over sections used to justify the n.s.a. bulk data programme, collecting the phone data of millions being your phone numbers and friends, libby casey has more. government officials say they are winding down pa of the patriot act in case the senate doesn't come up with an extension by tomorrow night. the real wind down begins tomorrow at 4 o'clock as the senate gabbles in. the president is warning that it's serious situation. >> sunday at midnight, a bunch of authorities that we use in order to preven

this was the u.e.f.a. delegation from europe arriving for an early meeting demanding that sepp blatter go. their candidate. prince ali from jordan will stand for president. but it's not known if he can get enough votes in support in places like africa and asia. >> look at the democracy of the most numbers and they say we have to stay we stay. i think you already lost thousands regulars. >> with a separate inquiry into corruption in 2018 and 2022 world cup bids, this process sought to link the alleged corruption of f.i.f.a. with a lack of rights for workers in qatar, which has come under heavy scrutiny over the number of people who died in construction sites. >> f.i.f.a. is corrupting care. they have given the world cup to a country with rampant slavery, and not made qatar commit to a time line for reform, it's all work, no action. you have to think if the event since wednesday are not enough to get the head of f.i.f.a. to step down voluntarily. perhaps nothing will. >> it's difficult to see what could happ

high -- name for himself in a high-profile match, and angered united he has a good reputation with u.e.f.a. and f.i.f.a. who gave him a world cup semifinal. english champions suffered a defeat, beaten 3-0. the first time they were beaten in the premier league two years day. indian under-21 striker scored an early goal, who were led to mid-table safety. chelsea, fabregas was kicked off for kicking a ball decelerately striking a player on the head. before brunt eased the pain from the sore head making it 3-0 to west brom >>> a medical completed with manchester united, as he moves closer to old trafford. with checks done and out of the way, united will work towards the transportation when the transfer opens in june. a fee of $39 million was agreed. it was a top scorer in the dutch league with 22 goals last season. >> two goals were played in serie a. it's a place blow nappoly. boko juniors are appealing against being thrown out against the prem we are club. the argentinian club received a punishment with the south american football confederation after fans threw a caustic substance. they had

are through to their eighth european cup final after 5-3 aggregate win over bayern munich in the u.e.f.a. league semifinals. is didn't go all the kata lun's way, they wept in trailling. neymar scored twice. bayern hit back with goals from levendosk. >> and thomas mulure. it wasn't enough. barca goes through. >> the results are marvellous we are happy. we can't wait for the end of the season. we need a victory to show we are winners. >> translation: we went 1-0 ahead and it was more possible. my opinion is that we made too many things not good enough. we greeate more scoring sunt which is but did not use the chaps, we have to he respect. one cannot defend that. that is the thin line. after all, we should have the action >>> trailling two one for the semifinal world leg, the fate is unclear. spanish court will rule whether football players can strike before the final two rounds of the season. the threatened stoppages over a tv rights law that sees a greater share of the revenue. has a decision been made yet? >> no decision. time is against the spanish authorities. this is a big move of the