Rummenigge backtracks on Blatter criticism

Bayern Munich and European Club Association (ECA) president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has retracted the remarks he made about FIFA president Sepp Blatter in an interview with a Swiss magazine last month.

"I spoke with Joseph Blatter on the phone last week. It wasn't my intention to speak in such aggressive terms. I retract the comments, they were not very fair," he said at a press conference following the ECA's 7th general assembly in Geneva.

In the interview published in Bilanz, Rummenigge compared the FIFA president with the ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.

"Mubarak never imagined a year ago that he would be hounded from office. Blatter's image is not good," Rummenigge was quoted as saying.

Rummenigge also threatened a revolution against world football's governing body unless they introduced the reforms promised in the wake of a corruption scandal earlier this year.

Blatter, 75, was re-elected as FIFA president in June despite the corruption accusations.