FIFA cancels Blatter conference

Zurich - FIFA cancelled a press conference with its president Sepp Blatter on Friday just minutes before it was due to start, offering no explanation.

Blatter had been due to speak for the first time since his number two, Secretary General Jerome Valcke, was placed on leave last week following accusations regarding ticket sales at the 2014 World Cup.

The press conference was expected to provide information on an executive committee meeting that concluded on Friday.

FIFA said in a statement that the meeting had decided to move the committee's next gathering, in December, from its planned venue of Tokyo to FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

Blatter has only once left Zurich, to travel to Russia, since May, when 14 soccer and sports marketing officials were arrested on money laundering and other corruption-related charges.