Kruen/ Lausanne: Barack Obama, the President of United States of America, on Monday made his first comments on the scandal enveloping soccer's governing body, saying the sport is a "massive business" that needs to be run with integrity.
"In conversations I've had here in Europe, people think it is very important for Fifa to be able to operate with integrity and transparency and accountability," Obama told reporters at a news conference after the G7 summit.
Obama said he could not comment directly on the FBI's investigation into bribery and corruption at Fifa.
But he said soccer is not only a game but a business and "a source of incredible national pride," and that the United States wants "to make sure that a sport that's gaining popularity is conducted in an upright manner." #While Obama has called for transparency and accountability, the legendary Diego Maradona has expressed his desire to be Fifa's new vice-president and has promised to clean up the mess if he gets the post.
Maradona has been an outspoken critic of outgoing Fifa president Sepp Blatter.
Maradona has claimed that he may be in line to become a vice-president should Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein be elected as Blatter's successor as president.
The 1986 World Cup-winner and former Argentina coach, whose last role in football was as "spiritual coach" to the Primera D side Deportivo Riestra, has been a long-term opponent of Blatter and described him as "a dictator".
Maradona, therefore, is keen to help out with the restructuring of football's governing body and has offered his services to Jordan's Prince Ali should he win the election.
"If Prince Ali wins, I have many chances to become Fifa vice-president," he was quoted as saying by an Argentinian television channel.
"If I arrive I'll clean them all up. Blatter is afraid of the FBI and the Swiss police. He was afraid to leave Fifa in handcuffs," he added.
Clean-up is what has been advised by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach as well.
Bach has encouraged Fifa to continue with its reforms, but has also warned that the process would be painful.
Bach added that he did not want to give advice to Fifa and pointed out that the structures of the two organisations were enormously different and difficult to compare.
"We can only encourage Fifa to continue (with) the reforms which have been initiated, we cannot give detailed advice of what to do, but we appreciate there is a readiness for reforms," Bach told a news conference in Lausanne, Switzerland.
"We also know from our experience that putting everything on the desk can be a painful experience, but it is absolutely necessary to do this as we have seen from our own history."
In 1998, the IOC was caught in its own bribes-for-votes scandal involving the 2002 Salt Lake City winter Olympics. That was the catalyst that led to wholesale reforms within the organisation.
"The structure of Fifa is very different from the IOC and the difference in the scope is huge. There is almost no comparison of what happened with Salt Lake City and what is now at stake with regards to Fifa," said Bach.
"We had this kind of problem (and) we addressed it... By introducing term limits, reducing the age limits, by having term limits not only for members but also members of the executive board and president," added Bach.
"One of the major steps in this reform (was) to have athletes electing their own representatives for the IOC executive board; we had the representatives of the international federations and of the national Olympic Committees. It means giving all the stakeholders in the Olympic movement the chance to express themselves."
Fifa's crisis, however, keeps deepening and the clean-up job, obviously, wouldn't be a simple process.
Blatter's former special adviser Guido Tognoni has suggested that Russia and Qatar may have had to pay bribes to secure their World Cup hosting rights, for 2018 and 2022 respectively.
Tognoni is believed to have worked "extremely closely" with the Blatter during his second term.
"In Fifa, for many years, you could only reach your goal by taking dollars in your hands," Tognoni told BBC Sport. Fifa though maintained that investigations into such claims were ongoing and, as yet, there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
The bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments is also the subject of a Swiss criminal investigation.
Asked if countries had any choice other than to bribe Fifa during the bidding process, Tognoni replied: "This speculation is permitted, yes."
Meanwhile, Fifa-financed film United Passions has scored a horrendous own goal after opening to just $607 (£397) at the US box office.
Pulp Fiction actor Tim Roth stars as Blatter in the movie, which debuted in ten cinemas, including the FilmBar in Phoenix in which just one person had bought a ticket to see it. (Agencies)