SEPP BLATTER yesterday backed a proposal that Fifa’s senior officials should pass integrity checks.

The world governing body is engulfed in scandal amid investigations into corruption by United States and Swiss authorities.

But Fifa president Blatter, who himself announced he was standing down just days after being re-elected as president for a fifth term last month, has insisted reforms can be made from within — days after International Trade Union Confederation general secretary Sharan Burrow called for an independent commision.

Blatter said: “Our new executive committee member, Wolfgang Niersbach from Germany, has put forward a motion I support.

“The president of the German Football Association has proposed an independent integrity check for all members of the most important Fifa committees.

“In doing so, Niersbach has broached a subject that has so far been blocked by Uefa of all associations. Better late than never.

“The message he has thereby sent out must apply to everyone: only together can we continue to drive the process of reform forward. That is something I will stand for until my final day in office.”

European governing body Uefa has been a leading critic of Blatter’s regime.

Blatter has also called on individual confederations such as Uefa to follow the lead of Fifa and establish their own ethics committees.

He wrote: “Confederations must at the same time acknowledge their responsibility in matters of ethics. Only the Asian confederation has an ethics committee like the one introduced by Fifa. All other continental bodies are lacking in this regard.”