UPDATED 5.23PM: New Zealand Football will support Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein in the FIFA Presidential Election at the world governing body’s annual Congress in Zurich overnight.

“Given the developments in the past 48 hours - which have been deeply distressing for all of us who love football - New Zealand Football believes substantive change is now essential within FIFA as soon as possible to repair its tarnished reputation,” they said in a statement.

Organisers confident tournament won't be affected

Organisers of New Zealand's FIFA Under-20 World Cup are rejecting suggestions of systemic problems at football's governing body.

Multiple officials have been arrested on corruption allegations ahead of the organisation's presidential election tomorrow.

Local Under-20 World Cup organiser Dave Beeche told Newstalk ZB the FIFA officials they've been dealing with have been very professional.

"The people we deal with at an operational level and the people on the ground here in New Zealand are fantastic," he says.

"They're world-class at what they do and they role out great tournaments."

Organisers don't believe FIFA's corruption crisis will overshadow the event.

Sponsors have warned FIFA to change its culture, to stop the corruption from happening again.

Dave Beeche says the tournament hasn't been encumbered by the scandal.

"Yeah it's a big distraction from a media perspective, but we're just getting on with it."

It came as FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Thursday that the scandal-tainted football body faces "more bad news" and that officials accused of corruption had brought shame and humiliation on the organisation.

But the 79-year-old Swiss official told the opening of FIFA's annual congress he could not be blamed for the latest controversy to hit the body saying he could not "monitor" every official.

"The next few months will not be easy for FIFA. I am sure more bad news will follow but it is necessary to begin to restore trust," he said.

Blatter called the scandals "unprecedented" and that the "actions of individuals bring shame and humiliation on football and demand action and change from us all".

Earlier, European football chief Michel Platini made a face-to-face call on Blatter to stand down at a meeting of world federation leaders.

He said Blatter refused and was determined to remain in a vote for the FIFA presidency at a congress on Friday which has even drawn global political leaders into the fray.

British Prime Minister David Cameron backed the calls for Blatter to resign. Russia's President Vladimir Putin, whose country beat England to get the 2018 World Cup, supported Blatter for a fifth term.

Platini said he confronted the 79-year-old Blatter at an emergency meeting of the heads of the the six regional confederations.

The UEFA president said he was "sickened" and "disgusted" at the events which led to the arrest of seven top football officials, including two FIFA vice presidents, at a Zurich hotel on Wednesday. They are among 14 people accused by US authorities of taking more than $150 million in bribes.

"Today I have come to ask you to quit FIFA, to resign from FIFA, to leave FIFA because its image is bad and we can no longer go on like this," Platini said he told Blatter in front of the other presidents.

Blatter only replied in a private conversation after Platini repeated the demand. "He told me: 'Michel we know each other well, but it's too late. I cannot leave today when the Congress starts this afternoon."

Blatter and FIFA have come under a lot of heat from sponsors, with VISA stating it could withdraw all support if changes to the organisation's culture aren't made.

CONCACAF dismisses Webb and Li

Embattled FIFA executive committee members Jeffrey Webb and Eduardo Li were "provisionally dismissed" Thursday by CONCACAF, football's governing body for North America, in the wake of corruption charges filed by US authories.

The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Football Association (CONCACAF) dropped Webb, its president and president of the Cayman Islands football association, and Li, an executive committee member and Costa Rica's football federation president, after they were among FIFA officials charged with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies on Wednesday.

CONCACAF's general secretary, Colombian-American sports executive Enrique Sanz, was also placed on an immediate leave of absence.

He is a vice president at Traffic Sports USA, whose president, Aaron Davidson, was among the sports marketing executives charged in the scandal.

Australia wants Blatter ousted

Football Federation Australia will vote against Sepp Blatter retaining the presidency of FIFA at the football body's congress in Zurich.

In the wake of some FIFA officials being arrested on corruption charges, the FFA has thrown its support behind the challenge to Blatter, Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein of Jordan.

Meanwhile, UEFA president Michel Platini has confronted Blatter during an emergency meeting in Switzerland and called on him to stand down.

Blatter refused and Platini made a public appeal for member nations to vote against Blatter.

African football opposes postponing vote

The Confederation of African Football has opposed postponing Friday's FIFA presidential election despite soccer's governing body being rocked by a corruption scandal.

"The Confederation of African Football opposes any postponement of the 65th FIFA Congress and the presidency election scheduled on May 29, 2015 in Zurich," the CAF said in a statement issued on its website.

The body says it has "reiterated its support for Sepp Blatter's candidacy", referring to the FIFA president's bid for re-election.

The African Confederation has thrown its support behind Blatter.