- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
FIFA President Sepp Blatter speaks to the media. AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Bin Hammam, the head of the Asian Football Confederation to which Australia belongs, was always going to struggle to unseat the master politician that is Blatter.
The Qatari was due to front a FIFA Ethics Committee hearing tomorrow following allegations he tried to buy votes from Caribbean officials.
Blatter was also set to front the hearing after bin Hammam claimed Blatter knew about the process, but chose to turn a blind eye. Both men denied the allegations.
In a statement on his website, bin Hammam outlined his reasons for withdrawing from the race.
“I set out my goals and ambitions clearly – to further the cause of democracy within FIFA – through a commitment to transparency and accountability; through a commitment to expand the number of officials and nations involved in decision-making processes.
“In addition to this, I wanted to spark a debate about change in FIFA. For the good of football, I wanted the future to be bright for our world’s governing body and for it to adapt to the ever-changing world we live in today.
“However, recent events have left me hurt and disappointed – on a professional and personal level.
“It saddens me that standing up for the causes that I believed in has come at a great price – the degradation of FIFA’s reputation. This is not what I had in mind for FIFA and this is unacceptable.
“I cannot allow the name that I loved to be dragged more and more in the mud because of competition between two individuals.
“The game itself and the people who love it around the world must come first.
“It is for this reason that I announce my withdrawal from the presidential election.”
Their were already calls for Wednesday’s vote to decide the president to be postponed, but that will now most likely go ahead with Blatter to be re-elected for another term.
In all, ten Exco members have had their names dragged through the mud since Russia and Qatar won the right to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
The process has had world leaders, who over the course of the last 18-months had met FIFA’s every need, claiming the game’s governing body was as British Prime Minister David Cameron put it “murky”
Now, after all the calls for change and hopes of a revolution, what have football fans been left with?
Will anything change from this point on?
I’d like to think so, but i severely doubt it.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.