EUROSCENE: So, here we are less than three weeks away from the World Cup finals and what is FIFA up to? Rather than preparing to host the world's most important football jamboree, the governing body in world soccer is currently involved in an almighty public wrangle focused on allegations of corruption and misuse of funds by its president, the evergreen 66-year-old Swiss Army colonel, Sepp Blatter.

When 11 members of the 24-man FIFA executive committee last week initiated legal action in Switzerland (home of FIFA) against Sepp Blatter on charges of "misuse of funds", they were finally making public allegations that have, rightly or wrongly, dogged Blatter's first four year period in office since his election in 1998. Throughout this period, too, Blatter has consistently denied wrongdoing.

The straw that broke the camel's back came via FIFA general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen who presented a 22-page document to the FIFA executive 10 days ago, alleging abuse of privilege and power and criminal misuse of millions of dollars by Blatter.

On the eve of last week's UEFA Cup final in Rotterdam, UEFA president, and FIFA vice-president, Lennart Johannson announced that the executive had no option but to take legal action, since under Swiss law anyone who is aware of a criminal act is obliged to report the matter or himself risk prosecution.

Given that details of Zen-Ruffinen's report were leaked to the Swiss paper, Sonntags Zeitung last weekend, we do at least know some of the charges levelled against Blatter. For a start, Zen-Ruffinen appears to accuse Blatter of, at best, financial mismanagement in relation to costly deals brokered with former commercial partner, ISL-ISMM, and with the German TV consortium, Kirch.

ISL-ISMM crashed last year, leaving estimated debts of $300 million, whilst the recent Kirch bankruptcy could yet cost FIFA dear since Kirch owns the TV rights to both the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. At a meeting with football magazine editors in Zurich two weeks ago, Blatter gave emphatic assurances that neither collapse will negatively impinge on FIFA, pointing out that world soccer's ruling authority will have no trouble finding either a new commercial partner or a new TV magnate interested in World Cup rights.

Zen-Ruffinen, however, argues that both deals, the result of Blatter's "dictatorial" management of FIFA, could yet cost the organisation up to $500 million. The general secretary also raises one or two other awkward questions.

What about the $44 million payment from a Brazilian TV company that never actually found its way into the agreed FIFA account? Or FIFA executive member Viacheslav Koloskov, who was reportedly paid $100,000 in expenses for the two-year period 1998-2000? Koloskov was elected to the executive only in August 2000.

Zen-Ruffinen also questions why Blatter stopped the work of an internal audit committee. Johannson said last week that this move suggested that Blatter had "something to hide".

Or what about the allegations made by Faro Addo, vice-president of the African Confederation, who claims that a bribe of $25,000 was offered to another official so that he might refute Addo's allegations of Blatter bribery at election time.

And there, perhaps, we come to the nub of this particular row, namely FIFA elections. Blatter comes up for re-election in South Korea on May 29th, two days before the World Cup begins. He is opposed by one man, Issa Hayatou of Cameroon, president of the African Confederation. Inevitably, those who have made allegations will be accused of working off an electoral agenda, willing to sling mud at their opponent.

In an apparent night of the long knives last Sunday, Zen-Ruffinen was relieved of his duties by a FIFA Emergency Committee made up of men loyal to Blatter.

Johannson suggests that, in the current overheated climate, football's best interests might perhaps be served by delaying the FIFA elections until the end of the year, by which time both the FIFA internal audit and the Swiss judicial investigation are likely to produce concrete results. It remains to be seen if the FIFA statute book permits such a delay and, if it does, Blatter can be persuaded to wait until December.