UEFA, the European soccer federation, issued a statement this afternoon after having a crisis meeting with their top leaders. The federation issued a statement towards FIFA. By now, you are likely aware about the arrests of several FIFA executives by Swiss authorities. You can read about the arrests HERE and HERE. 

UEFA said that they are shocked and saddened by these developments:

"Today's events are a disaster for FIFA and tarnish the image of football as a whole. 

UEFA is deeply shocked and saddened by them. 

These events show, once again, that corruption is deeply rooted in FIFA's culture."

"Today's events are a disaster for FIFA and tarnish the image of football as a whole"

UEFA had been a proponent of change for FIFA, and the possible re vote of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The 2018 England bid was beat by Russia amid controversy due to corruption in the voting. FIFA reiterated today that they will not have a revote on the two World Cups.

UEFA also issued a threat to FIFA, as the world governing body of soccer announced today that Friday's election in which Sepp Blatter will go for reelection will continue as planned;

"The upcoming FIFA Congress risks to turn into a farce and therefore the European associations will have to consider carefully if they should even attend this Congress and caution a system, which, if it is not stopped, will ultimately kill football.

The UEFA member associations are meeting tomorrow ahead of the FIFA Congress. At that point, the European associations will decide on what further steps need to be taken to protect the game of football.

In the meantime, the members of the UEFA Executive Committee are convinced that there is a strong need for a change to the leadership of this FIFA and strongly believe that the FIFA Congress should be postponed, with new FIFA presidential elections to be organized within the next six months."

Meantime, FIFA President Sepp Blatter issued his own statement regarding today's arrests. He mentioned his support in "cleaning up" the game, and that he is happy with the work by the Swiss and US authorities.

"As unfortunate as these events are, it should be clear that we welcome the actions and the investigations by the US and Swiss authorities and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken to root out any wrongdoing in football."

Blatter continued his statement, saying that FIFA will be cooperative with the authorities to continue this investigation.

Blatter says FIFA will work hard with authorities to "root out any misconduct."

Blatter also announced that the 11 indicted by the US for corruption and other charges have been banned from FIFA for life.

"Following the events of today, the independent Ethics Committee – which is in the midst of its own proceedings regarding the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups - took swift action to provisionally ban those individuals named by the authorities from any football-related activities at the national and international level. These actions are on top of similar steps that FIFA has taken over the past year to exclude any members who violate our own Code of Ethics."

The investigation is ongoing, with more arrests expected and the arrival of those arrested on US shores.