Zurich - FIFA communications director Walter De Gregorio has been sacked after sealing his fate with a joke about the governing body on Swiss TV.
Gregorio told Swiss chat show Schawinski: "The FIFA president, secretary general and communications director are all travelling in a car. Who's driving? The police."
FIFA announced in a statement that De Gregorio had "relinquished his office", but according to the BBC website he was asked to leave by president Sepp Blatter.
Blatter himself announced earlier this month that he would stand down as FIFA president following a new election, just two days after winning re-election for a fifth term.