Zen-Ruffinen, 43, effectively sacked by FIFA president Sepp Blatter on May 31 following his report into the state of FIFA finances, said the world governing body had to re-unite after splitting apart into rival factions over the last few months.

"The fact I am leaving makes no real difference," he said.

"The people running FIFA in the future will have to be united and face the challenges ahead of them."

He said he was leaving FIFA after 16 years with mixed feelings, explaining: "You don't leave the organisation after such a wonderful World Cup without being in a way sad.

"But also maybe with the feeling that it is the right moment to go out because FIFA really has some serious problems.

"To tackle them I feel you need a team that is really united and you are all aware the team managing FIFA in the last few months was not united any more for a lot of reasons.

"I think it is now only logical, after the president was re-elected at the Congress, to let him manage it as he wants to manage it. I think a lot of people have identified a lot of problems and it is now time for FIFA to settle them.

"When you run world football you need to have serenity, you need people who are committed to the management but I think FIFA is entering the most difficult period it has ever had.

"There is now a real challenge for those people who will be in charge to restore order in the organisation and I sincerely hope they do."

But he also warned that the financial problems facing FIFA and the world game at large will not disappear.

"My report focused on what I believed was the mis-management of finances and I have not changed my view at all," he added.

Zen-Ruffinen, appointed general secretary in 1998, fell out with Blatter over the state of FIFA's finances.

On May 3, Zen-Ruffinen, along with 11 members of the FIFA executive committee lodged a case with the Zurich prosecutor's office alleging mis-management by the president.

Zen-Ruffinen said he felt no personal animosity towards the president - and was taking three months off to consider a number of offers.

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