Coe may be asked to probe Linsi payment

Sebastian Coe, chairman of FIFA's ethics committee, may be called on to investigate a $4 million pay-off to the world governing body's former general secretary Urs Linsi.

Linsi was given eight years' salary as a settlement after being forced out of FIFA in June.

It is understood that there are serious concerns among FIFA's top brass at the circumstances surrounding how Linsi managed to secure a new eight-year contract in April worth £500,000 annually at a time when his whole future was in question.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter is thought to have been furious when told of the contract but has refused to comment on the size of the pay-off.

The issue is likely to be discussed when FIFA's executive committee meet in Zurich at the end of next month and there may be calls for Lord Coe and the ethics committee to look into it.

Blatter, who is in China for the Women's World Cup, told Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung: 'This is an internal FIFA matter,' adding that he was only responsible to the executive committee and FIFA Congress.

The pay-off has been confirmed to PA Sport by senior sources and coming so soon after the MasterCard settlement, which cost FIFA £45 million, will raise eyebrows across the football world.

Linsi's exit deal included a confidentiality clause and he has refused to speak about FIFA ever since he left the organisation.

Blatter said in June that he took 'full responsibility' for the MasterCard settlement, which came in response to a court case brought by the credit card giants claiming that they had been misled by FIFA over sponsorship talks.

Of the £45million, some £15 million was in settlement of a trademark dispute over FIFA's use of the twin globes which MasterCard claimed infringed their copyright.

Linsi was also involved in the MasterCard saga as former managing director of FIFA's marketing company.