How Blatter is planning to rig the vote which could oust him

Blatter claims that he called the extraordinary congress, to be held in Seoul 24 hours before he is challenged for the FIFA presidency by Cameroon's Issa Hayatou, as a last resort.

But Sportsmail proves today that it was a pre-planned strategy, orchestrated before the governing body's executive committee tried to hold him to account in Zurich last month.

In addition, we can reveal the tactics Blatter and his lackeys intend to use to undermine the Hayatou campaign in the crucial hours before the secret ballot is held in the Korean capital on May 29.

What will be presented as a spontaneous gesture of support will instead be a choreographed routine, with Blatter using placemen, who have no voting powers, to pull the wool over the eyes of the football world.

It is yet another example of Blatter's desperation to retain his hold on power, shown by the whistle-stop tour of 10 African states he embarked on earlier this week in a bid to seduce support away from Hayatou in his home-continent powerbase.

But by outlining the truth eight weeks before world football faces arguably its most momentous decision in a quarter of a century, Sportsmail believes the global game now has the opportunity to show it can see through the machinations of Blatter's Machiavellian reign.

Blatter gave notice that he would be willing to sanction the extraordinary session on March 9, at the end of a week in which his grip on power had been shaken as never before.

Despite accepting the setting up of an internal audit committee to investigate FIFA's troubled finances in the wake of the L278 million collapse of marketing partner ISL, Blatter insisted that his version of events should be taken as read.

He added: "I hope that we don't need to use the other tool we have now, because should these internal fights or misunderstandings not stop, already 54 national associations have asked to convene an extraordinary congress of FIFA to discuss before Seoul all matters related to finances."

Blatter did not mention that the letter had been drafted by the Trinidad and Tobago association, home to his strongest ally, Jack Warner, who subsequently boasted that he had enticed the 53 other signatories aboard "in 90 minutes".

More worrying for FIFA is Sportsmail's revelation that none of those signatories could have known what they were signing up for.

On March 5, at 7pm Zurich time, Warner was one of six members of FIFA's finance committee meeting - with Blatter in attendance - to discuss the organisation's spiralling debts.

That meeting broke up in acrimony, with two members - Botswana's Ismail Bhamjee and Senes Erzik of Turkey - refusing to accept Blatter's version of the financial position.

Despite that, FIFA rushed out a statement the next day, quoting committee head Julio Grondona of Argentina - another Blatter loyalist - as declaring the committee had "unanimously approved" the audit report prepared by accountants KPMG which claimed FIFA had made a profit of L32m last year and had reserves of L167m.

Bhamjee and Erzik maintain no vote was taken and FIFA is already backtracking, with spokesman Andreas Herren telling Sportsmail: "Two members raised reservations but when the chairman asked formally if the committee was in agreement to submit the report unanimously there was no formal record of dissent."

Yet Sportsmail can reveal that even before the finance committee - which Blatter claimed had backed him - had sat down to discuss the situation, the efforts to call the congress session had begun.

In a letter faxed to all 35 CONCACAF associations on March 5, general secretary Harold Taylor attached a copy of the Trinidad request and asked "as a matter of urgency" for support.

Taylor wrote: "I am hoping to get your responses by 3pm today, which means we can present the same to FIFA by 5pm." Even allowing for the six-hour time difference, Taylor was calling for responses to arrive by 9pm Zurich time - when the meeting was still in session.

Pressed last night, Herren said that the call for the extraordinary congress had been lodged on March 7. When asked why Taylor - a Warner placeman - had been writing his letter two days before, his ground shifted.

Herren added: "The Caribbean Football Union did contact its member associations on March 5. They must have been aware of the situation and were asking them to express their support to FIFA. The meeting did finish at around 9pm but the fact is that associations, in accordance with FIFA statutes, can make such a call for a congress."

Few of the 54 national associations who have responded to Blatter's manipulations play any significant role in world football. They include Nepal, Oman, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Lebanon and Oman from Asia.

Sportsmail's investigations reveal that the true purpose of the special congress is to create an illusion of support for Blatter, not an honest examination of the finances.

Warner and Blatter plan to stampede the session into a choreographed chorus, drowning out critics and steamrollering Blatter back into the presidency.

This tactic worked last July at a previous special FIFA congress, in Buenos Aires, when Blatter was again under pressure over the parlous state of the organisation's finances.

He was saved by Jamaica's Horace Burrell, who announced that his was the smallest country ever to qualify for the World Cup and that it fully supported Blatter. This was the cue for a roar of acclamation from Warner's contingent and Blatter escaped.

Yesterday another Jamaican supporter, Tony James, a vice-president of CONCACAF, said: "These 35 countries have total faith in the leadership of Jack Warner."

Asked why the demand for the special congress had been rushed through without debate he added: "There was no need for further consultation. This is a re-affirmation of our acceptance in Buenos Aires of President Blatter's explanation of the state of the finances."

Caribbean countries are applying to send extra supporters as "observers" to the special congress. Barbados has asked for three extra seats inside the hall. Blatter will appeal to the meeting for personal support and back will come a roar of applause from people who have no right to vote.  In return these "observers" will enjoy an expenses-paid trip to the World Cup.

But Warner's power is declining. Five members of CONCACAF have declined to support him.

A spokesman for the Mexican federation said, "We were not happy with the way this was done. We asked why it was necessary, what was the agenda. We will not support this kind of tactic without proper debate.  We are a big footballing power but these little islands, they are afraid of Warner and do whatever he wants."