FIFA President Sepp Blatter backed calls from the European Union urging Qatar to stop companies from abusing migrant workers involved in construction for the 2022 World Cup.

FIFA leaders agreed to set up a working group to study switching the dates of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to avoid the extreme summer heat.

FIFA opened a two-day board meeting Thursday that will discuss whether to move the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from the traditional summer dates.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter says he will protest to Italian soccer authorities over a decision to only fine Roma the equivalent of $65,000 after their fans racially abused AC Milan players.

Blatter's predecessor as FIFA president, Joao Havelange, was forced to step down as honorary president because of his involvement in the case.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has softened his proposal that clubs be punished with relegation after racist abuse, suggesting fans would deliberately provoke abuse.

Soccer is falling under a cloud of suspicion as never before, sullied by a multibillion-dollar web of match-fixing that is corrupting increasingly larger parts of the world's most popular sport.

The panel wants to "safeguard proper decision-making" at FIFA by allowing two independent outsiders to attend all committee meetings, including the 25-member ruling board.

Sepp Blatter spoke a day after FIFA launched a website for whistleblowers to report suspicions of fixing and corruption among its 209 member nations.

"Mr. Mohamed bin Hammam ... has resigned from all his positions in football with immediate effect and will never be active in organized football again," a FIFA statement said.