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The division between UEFA and FIFA president Sepp Blatter has widened following suggestions world football's governing body watered down a report into reform proposals. Der Spiegel has reported that criticism of Blatter by FIFA's independent governance committee chairman Mark Pieth was removed from his final report by the governing body's legal adviser Marco Villiger. The report has led Pedro Pinto, spokesman for UEFA president Michel Platini, to issue a statement criticising the interference. Blatter is being challenged by three UEFA-backed candidates for the FIFA presidential election in May -- Dutchman Michael van Praag, former Portugal international Luis Figo and Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan. Der Spiegel claims that passages in Pieth's final report were changed to remove comments about Blatter's role in the ISL corruption scandal, where former FIFA president Joao Havelange and several other senior figures were revealed to have been paid bribes by the governing body's former marketing partner. Pieth had raised issues about Blatter's "leadership responsibilities" as well as his "possible complicity in the scandal," according to Der Spiegel, who said he submitted a 15-page draft of his report, with Villiger then returning it two weeks later with 37 notes and various deletions. Pieth told Der Spiegel he was aware of the changes.
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