Sepp Blatter did a lot of good for smaller countries, says Hong Kong FA president Timothy Fok

Hong Kong Football Association president Timothy Fok Tsun-ting defended his vote for Sepp Blatter, saying the outgoing Fifa president had done a lot to help smaller nations during his reign.

Blatter stunned world soccer on Tuesday when he announced he would be stepping down as leader of the richest governing body in sport just days after being re-elected following a week of scandal and arrests of high-profile Fifa figures.

"It had nothing to do with personalities," said Fok hours after returning from the Fifa congress in Zurich.

"I know Blatter very well and Prince Ali [bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who ran against Blatter] is also a good friend. But I voted for Blatter because of what he had done for smaller federations in Asia and Africa, giving them a helping hand.

"It was a bit of a shock to find that [Blatter had stepped down]. I couldn't sleep [on Tuesday] night and I switched on the television to see an announcement on CNN that Blatter would be giving a press conference. I stayed up to watch that and was surprised like everyone else by his resignation."

The HKFA has received US$2.5 million from Fifa over the past five years. This includes US$2 million under the Financial Assistance Programme (FAP) and US$500,000 from the Goal Programme.

In addition, it received another US$800,000 in 2003, also under the Goal Programme. The Goal Programme money - totalling US$1.3 million - was used for the renovation and refurbishment of the HKFA offices, while the FAP funds were used for technical development and for men's and women's competitions.

Blatter opened the renovated HKFA headquarters at Ho Man Tin last year, an event that coincided with the 100th anniversary of the HKFA.

Fok, who is also president of the Hong Kong Olympic Committee, said he had followed the guidelines of the Asian Football Confederation, which threw its support behind Blatter before the presidential vote.

"The consensus by Asia was to back Blatter and I did so," Fok said.

"We did that because he has helped develop small countries. Hopefully, the new president, whoever he is, will do the same."

Fok refused to be drawn into whether the mounting corruption scandal had forced Blatter to resign but intimated that the large amounts of money flowing through Fifa would certainly have opened the way for fraud.

"You have to remember football has gone through a major transition since Blatter took office," Fok said.

"When he began, Fifa's assets were mortgaged to Swiss banks but today, thanks to the commercialisation of the sport, which he was responsible for, Fifa is sitting on massive amounts of money.

"This has also created problems which they are facing today."