Sepp Blatter is named as a former lover of Cristiano Ronaldo's ex girlfriend model Irina Shayk in bizarre claims made by Spanish media

• Outgoing FIFA chief allegedly had a relationship with the Russian model 
• The unlikely pair are said to have dated some time between 2002 and 2014
• Sensational claims emerged in an article titled: 'All the women in Blatter's life', which appeared in respected Spanish newspaper El Mundo
• Disgraced 79-year-old is known to have had a string of younger lovers
• Many of Blatter's ex partners are believed to be friends of his daughter 

By Gerard Couzens for MailOnline

Published: 11:15 GMT, 5 June 2015 | Updated: 11:46 GMT, 5 June 2015

Disgraced FIFA President Sepp Blatter has been named as a former lover of model Irina Shayk in a bombshell story which is making headlines across the world.

Spanish daily El Mundo made the sensational claim about the roving-eyed football chief and Cristiano Ronaldo's ex girlfriend in a piece published yesterday titled 'All the women in Blatter's life.'

It declared the 79-year-old 'had a relationship' with the Russian beauty after dating tennis player Ilona Boguska but before meeting glamourous Linda Barras, 50.

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Unlikely pair: Sepp Blatter (left) has been named as a former lover of model Irina Shayk (right) in a bombshell story which is making headlines across the world

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Respected Spanish daily El Mundo made the sensational claim about the roving-eyed football chief and Cristiano Ronaldo's ex girlfriend (right) in a piece published yesterday titled 'All the women in Blatter's life'

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Revelation: Sepp Blatter, 79, reportedly 'had a relationship' with Russian beauty Shayk (pictured) at sometime between 2002 and 2014. 29-year-old Shayk dated Cristiano Ronaldo from 2010 until earlier this year

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Irina Shayk was in a relationship with Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo from 2010 to 2015.[

Blatter began seeing Polish-born Ilona, a friend of his daughter Corinne, in 1995 and they separated in 2002, it is claimed.

They dated again after Blatter's short 2002 marriage to Graziella Bianca - a dolphin trainer who was also a friend of his daughter.

Blatter is understood to have become close to Swiss socialite Barras at the beginning of 2014 and has been described as her boyfriend by Swiss and other international press even though her husband Christian insists they are just 'close friends.'

The article linking Blatter to Shayk was written by El Mundo's Berlin-based correspondent Rosalia Sanchez.

She said today following the international repercussions of her piece that the Russian had been named by a 'Swiss source' while she was investigating the outgoing FIFA chief's love life.

El Mundo's claims about Blatter and Shayk - a guest of Prince Charles at a recent Buckingham Palace party - were being echoed across the world today. 

Headlines about the supposed affair appeared on news sites as far afield as Peru, Portugal, Mexico and Vietnam as well as on social networking sites including Twitter.

MailOnline has approached Shayk's representatives for a comment.  

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Claims: Sepp Blatter is said to have 'had a relationship' with Irina Shayk after separating from tennis player Ilona Boguska (left) in 2002 but before meeting glamourous Linda Barras (right) in 2014

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Shayk (left) dated Real Madrid and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo (right) from 2010 until splitting this year

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Sensational claims: El Mundo's comments about Blatter and Shayk (pictured) - a guest of Prince Charles at a recent Buckingham Palace party - were being echoed across the world today

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Irina Shayk (left and right) made her acting debut alongside Dwayne Johnson in the 2014 film Hercules

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Ireland FA chief executive John Delaney (right) claims Sepp Blatter recently stared at his girlfriend Emma English (left) for several seconds before saying he 'approved'. Delaney told the FIFA head to 'move on'

Some attributed the information to 'several national and international media' and failed to mention El Mundo as the original source.

Wikipedia, which described Blatter as a 'Swiss tosser' last week after his page was hacked, has so far made no mention of the FIFA chief's friendship with Irina Shayk.

The controversial soccer boss was described by one paper last week as a a 'short, bald despot with a leering eye for women half his age'.

He announced his resignation on Tuesday just three days after winning a fifth term as president amid a corruption scandal that continues to rock world football.

Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney revealed yesterday that he told Blatter to 'move on' after the outgoing FIFA president eyed his partner Emma English before saying he 'approved' of her.

Mr Delaney told RTE Radio One during an interview: 'He met Emma, my partner, in Vienna recently.

'He stared at her for seven or eight seconds and he said, 'I approve of your new girlfriend'...I asked him to move on, move on please,' he said.

'She is a great girl. I love her very much. It was an extraordinary moment. If she was here she would tell you herself... He stared at her and I said 'move on' and he did,' Mr Delaney added. 

Cruise ship righted on Yangtze, 400 or more feared dead

The capsized Chinese river cruise ship Eastern Star has been righted by large cranes on the Yangtze. China is facing what could be its worst shipping disaster in 70 years. So far, 97 bodies have been found.

Chinese CCTV state television showed the ship upright on Friday, four days after it overturned in a storm.
Just 14 people survived the disaster, including three extracted from air pockets by divers, and the captain of the 76-meter-long vessel.
Ministry spokesman Xu Chengguang said recovery teams would drain out water and then begin the task of identifying bodies.

Giant cranes helped turn the ship upright

He had told a press conference on Thursday - before the ship was turned upright - that authorities had concluded "there is no possibility of survival."
Media checks
Information and media access to the disaster site at Jianli, a riverside town, were being tightly controlled. Police monitored hundreds of relatives as they arrived.
Some expressed anger to visiting reporters on Friday before being interrupted or escorted away by officials.
University lecturer Xia Yunchen, whose older brother was missing, demanded that relatives be allowed to view loved ones before being cremated.
In past disasters, authorities have delivered ashes to the victims' families without letting them see them, according to the news agency Associated Press.
Another relative, identified as Gao, demanded an explanation as to why the shallow-draft boat, with numerous decks, cruised into Monday evening's storm while other ships had dropped anchor as reported by local media.
"Of course I am angry at the boat captain," Gao told the news agency AFP.
Captain in custody
The captain, identified by the China Daily newspaper as Zhang Shunwen, was taken into custody along with the ship's surviving first officer.
On board the Eastern Star had been 456 people, mostly tourists aged over 60.
China's deadliest previous disaster in recent decades involved the Dashun ferry. It caught fire and sank off Shandong province in 1999, claiming some 280 lives.
ipj/msh (AP, AFP, dpa)

Four Polish drivers arrested after 68 starving migrants - including 15 children and two pregnant women - are found locked in four lorries in Essex port

• Two pregnant women and 15 children among 68 shipped into the UK
• Stowaways were 35 Afghans, 22 Chinese, 10 Vietnamese and a Russian 
• Seven of the group taken to hospital with abdominal and chest pains
• The sick were taken to hospital and the rest handed over to border officials 
• Four Polish drivers have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling them 

By Martin Robinson for MailOnline

Published: 07:33 GMT, 5 June 2015 | Updated: 11:12 GMT, 5 June 2015

68 suspected illegal immigrants including two pregnant women and 15 children have been found locked in cargo containers shipped into Harwich International Port last night.

Four Polish lorry drivers have today been arrested on suspicion of smuggling them into Britain from Holland on the Stena Hollandica super-ferry.

Home Office officials said today the group of 53 adults and 15 children included 35 from Afghanistan, 22 from China, 10 from Vietnam and one person from Russia. 

Seven of the stowaways were taken to Colchester General Hospital in Essex for treatment after complaining of abdominal pains and chest pains caused by the cramped conditions.

All the suspected illegal immigrants have been assessed and have now been handed to UK Border Agency officials.

Discovery: 68 people including two pregnant women have been found locked in a cargo container shipped into Harwich in a Stena ship, the Hollandica. Pictured is the sister ship, the Britannica today

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Nationalities: The people caught being smuggled into the UK included 35 Afghans, 22 Chinese, 10 Vietnamese and one Russian national

Experts said today they were lucky to be alive and may have been crammed into the container for days with little food or water. 

The route between Holland and Harwich has been described as a 'carousel system' for immigrants who come to Britain, are deported back to the Netherlands and then try to sneak back again. 

A Home Office spokesman said: 'We can confirm Border Force officers discovered 53 adults and 15 children during a proactive search of four lorries which had arrived at Harwich port from Holland on Thursday evening.

'Seven of those discovered were taken to hospital as a precaution, before being released. All 68 individuals are now in the care of Border Force.

'Four Polish nationals, who were driving the vehicles, have been arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration. They have been taken to separate police stations and will now be questioned by the Home Office's criminal investigations team while enquiries continue.' 

East of England Ambulance Service said they were called after the container was discovered at around 10pm last night.

Gold commander Matt Broad said that six ambulances, two rapid response vehicles, and three units from the Trust's Hazardous Area Response Team were sent.   

An ambulance service spokesman said: 'The patients who were taken to hospital were suffering from abdominal and chest pains and were feeling faint. None are in a life-threatening or serious condition'.

They were all squeezed into lorries heading to the UK on the Stena Hollandica ferry. It is one of Europe's largest and most modern ferries that takes containers and passengers.

A Stena Line spokesman said: 'Stena Line can confirm that a number of different lorries carrying 68 clandestines were stopped by Border Control at Harwich International Port last night as they disembarked from the Stena Hollandica. Th

'The ship had sailed from the Hook of Holland to Harwich, leaving the Hook of Holland at 1415 and arriving in Harwich at 1945 on Thursday June 4'.  

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Investigation: The nationalities of those crammed into the container not known but the 68 people are believed to have been shipped from Holland.

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Pattern: The route between Holland and Harwich, pictured, has been described as a 'carousel system' for immigrants who come to Britain, are deported back to the Netherlands and then try to sneak back again

In March two illegal immigrants died as they desperately tried to sneak into Britain after jumping into the sea off Harwich.

Albanian Artur Doda, 24, plunged to his death alongside fellow countryman Leonard Isufaj, 27, after jumping from one of the world's largest ferries.

They tried to swim the 500 metres to Harwich but an inquest heard that an Olympic swimmer would have struggled to cope with the cold water and the strong tides.  

Mr Doda was sliced to death by a ferry's 'machete-like' propeller and his friend Mr Isufaj drowned. 

Giles Young, senior officer with Border Force at Harwich International Port, told Chelmsford Coroners' Court: 'We see a lot of these particular cases and the same people will turn up two or three times.

'We have individuals this year who are already on their second attempt and it is only March.

'The Dutch sometimes release them into Holland and they try again. It's a carousel system.' 

In August last year 35 immigrants were discovered in a container at Tilbury Docks in Essex.

One of them, 40-year-old Meet Singh Kapoor, from Afghanistan, was found dead.

The group, whose ages ranged from one to 72, are believed to have fled Afghanistan after suffering persecution.  

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Gateway: Harwich is once of Britain's main container ports and serves ships from Europe, the Mediterranean and north Africa

Later the same month, one person was taken to hospital after 13 people were found in the back of a lorry at the Dartford Crossing in Kent. 

Essex Police said in a statement: 'The ambulance service contacted police at 10.15pm on Thursday June 4 to reports they had been called to deal with 68 patients who had been discovered in containers on a ferry from the Hook of Holland at Harwich Port.

'Essex Police made contact with staff at Border Force, who were already in attendance, and they are taking the lead as the incident relates to immigration offences.

'We are continuing to liaise with Border Force while their inquiries continue.' 

REVEALED: WHERE 130,000 DESPERATE MIGRANTS HAVE FLOCKED TO EUROPE FROM THIS YEAR ALONE 

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Heading to Europe: Italy and Greece have each seen more than 40,000 migrant arrivals since January, with the small Greek holiday island of Kos having already topped 6,000 in 2015 alone. Another popular route into Europe remains overland with close to 40,000 migrants travelling through the Balkan states up into Hungary, Slovenia and Austria over the past six months

More than 130,000 migrants have already arrived on European shores in 2015, coming from countries as diverse as Syria, Nigeria and Vietnam in a desperate effort to flee warzones, avoid genocide and give their children the best chance to start a new life.

While migrants risking everything on board cramped, barely seaworthy boats bound for Italy and the Greek islands grab the headlines, a number of alternative routes - such as the Canary Islands - have emerged, highlighting locations that could see a surge in migrant arrivals over the coming months.

Italy and Greece remain the most popular destinations however, with each having more than 40,000 arrivals since January.

In fact arrivals of the small Greek holiday island of Kos have already topped 6,000 in 2015 - arriving at a rate of 300 a day - leaving its population of 32,000 wondering how many more people they can take.

In a stark representation of the the sharply rising numbers of migrants heading to Greece, there have already been 32,160 more arrivals in the first five months of 2015 than there were in the whole of 2014. The number heading to the Italy - usually through the island of Sicily and the southern province of Apulia - have stayed relatively stable this year, but have still hit 46,500 in just five months.

Another hugely popular route into Europe is actually overland, with close to 40,000 migrants travelling through the Balkan states up into Hungary, Slovenia and Austria over the past six months.

With thousands of migrants having already drowned in the deceptively appealing waters of the Mediterranean Sea this year, Europe is facing an unprecedented obligation not just to save the lives of desperate men, women and children, but also to work out exactly what can be done to ensure those who survive the perilous voyage, where often the criminal gangs trafficking them can prove as fearsome and ruthless as the sea itself.