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Retired Brazilian footballer Ronaldo calls on BFC chief to step down

Xinhua, June 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Retired Brazilian forward Ronaldo Nazario Wednesday called on the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (BFC), Marco Polo del Nero, to step down.

Ronaldo said Del Nero should follow the example set by the scandal hit president of world soccer body FIFA, Joseph Blatter, who on Tuesday announced his decision to step down after more than 15 years at the helm.

"I would love to see him (Del Nero) resign also," Ronaldo, whose on-field performance garnered him the nickname "The Phenomenon," said at a press conference in Sao Paulo.

It's unlikely Del Nero didn't know what his predecessor at the BFC, Jose Maria Marin, was up to, said Ronaldo.

Marin was arrested last week in Switzerland, along with another six top officials at the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), as part of a U.S.-launched investigation into graft and bribery related to the selection of World Cup host countries.

Ronaldo, who was on the 2014 Brazil World Cup organizing committee, along with Del Nero, Marin and FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke, said he did not witness any bribe taking or other illegal activities, and offered to cooperate with authorities.

Also Wednesday media reported that former FIFA official Chuck Blazer blew the whistle on bribe taking in connection with the 1998 and 2010 World Cups, as part of a plea bargain with the U.S. Department of Justice. Blazer served as head of the North, Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation (Concacaf) and a FIFA executive committee member. Endit