Former England captain David Beckham slammed FIFA over bribery allegations sweeping through the world governing body, which led to the resignation of embattled president Sepp Blatter.
Blatter announced his shock resignation on Tuesday amid fresh allegations of corruption involving FIFA secretary Jerome Valcke, having only been re-elected to a fifth term four days earlier.
The world governing body has been embroiled in more allegations since Blatter decided to step down, with disgraced former FIFA ExCo official Chuck Blazer revealing in a testimony on Wednesday that he and others agreed to accept and facilitate bribes as part of the bidding process for the France 1998 and South Africa 2010 World Cups.
Beckham, who was a member of England s failed bid to host the 2018 World Cup as Russia won the rights, stressed it is time to embrace change at the highest level.
Some of the things that we now know happened were despicable, unacceptable and awful for the game that we love so much, Beckham told Sky Sports News HQ.
Football is not owned by a few individuals at the top, it belongs to the millions of people around the world who love this sport.
It is time for FIFA to change and we should all welcome it.
Blatter s decision to resign came in the wake of reports out of the United States, which claim Valcke was responsible for transferring a $10million payment to CONCACAF then led by the indicted Jack Warner, with US authorities alleging the sum was paid as a bribe to secure the 2010 World Cup for South Africa.
Last week, 14 people including nine past and present FIFA officials were indicted by the United States Department of Justice on charges of racketeering, conspiracy and corruption.
