The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has reiterated its support for Fifa president Sepp Blatter, despite the latest scandal that has rocked the sport's governing body to its core.
Nine Fifa officials and five corporate executives were indicted for racketeering, conspiracy and corruption on Wednesday, though Blatter was not among those charged and is expected to be re-elected as president on Friday.
The AFC says it will continue to support Blatter and added that it wants to see the presidential elections to go ahead as planned after Uefa had called for the vote to be postponed.
"The Asian Football Confederation expresses its disappointment and sadness at Wednesday's events in Zurich whilst opposing any delay in the Fifa presidential elections to take place on Friday May 29 in Zurich," the AFC said in a statement on Thursday.
"The AFC is against any form of corruption in football and fully supports any actions taken by the independent Fifa Ethics Committee where wrongdoing may have occurred, whether such actions affect Asian officials or otherwise.
"The AFC is still undergoing its own process of reform and has taken many concrete steps in the last two years to improve governance in the Confederation, whilst recognising that there is still much work to do.
"Furthermore, the AFC reiterates its decision taken at the AFC Congress in Sao Paulo in 2014, endorsed at subsequent Congresses in Melbourne and Manama in 2015, to support Fifa president Joseph S. Blatter."
Blatter released a statement on Wednesday in which he labelled this week's events as "unfortunate" before skipping Thursday's Fifa Medical Conference at which he would have faced the world's press for the first time since the raid at the Baur au Lac Hotel in Zurich.
