Sepp Blatter’s shock resignation has opened up a new race to become president of FIFA , with a mission to reform football’s scandal-tainted world body.
The names of UEFA president Michel Platini, Prince Ali bin al Hussein, who challenged Blatter in a vote last Friday, and Portuguese football great Luis Figo were immediately pushed forward.
They were quickly joined in the mix by legendary Brazilian midfielder Zico and highly-experienced South Korean official Chung Mong-Joon, both of whom said they were considering making a run at the job.
But no figure made an official declaration. “There will be jostling for position. The election will take time,” commented one FIFA executive member in the hours after the 79-year-old Blatter gave in to pressure to stand down over a bribery scandal that hit the football body.
French football legend-turned-politician Platini is the best known of the potential runners.
The 59-year-old, three time winner of the Ballon d’Or, established his administrator credentials as organiser of the 1998 World Cup. He has headed UEFA since 2007.
Platini decided last year not to run against Blatter in the election on Friday. He did not rule out an attempt in 2019 however.
But Platini’s own reelection in April to a new term in charge of the wealthiest and most powerful of football’s regional confederations could also hold him back from a bid for FIFA.
Platini praised the “difficult” and “brave” decision made by Blatter to stand down. But he gave no sign of his own intentions.
Jordan’s Prince Ali, who was a FIFA vice president until Friday when he lost the presidential election to Blatter, made it known through a spokesman that he is “ready” for football’s top job.
“As for new elections, Prince Ali is ready,” Sala Sabra, vice-president of the Jordanian football federation which the prince heads up, said.
The prince, Sabra added, was also ready “to take up the presidency immediately” if asked.
Blatter said he would remain in office until a new election is held. But the extraordinary congress is not expected until between December this year and March 2016.
Luis Figo was given strong backing by the Portuguese for his own candidacy.
Portuguese Football Federation president Fernando Gomes said a Figo run this time would be “an individual choice”.
Dutch Football Association chief Michael Van Praag pulled out of last week’s race to help Prince Ali, as did Figo.
Van Praag told Dutch media he would test opinion at a UEFA meeting in Berlin on Saturday “and then consider my plans”.
Another former footballer mulling his options was Brazil’s Zico who said on his Facebook page: “Why not?
“I don’t have support yet, but if it’s open, I can become a candidate. It’s still an idea. Who knows?”
Zico is currently coach to Indian club FC Goa.
Van Praag had said he would be a stop-gap president to carry out emergency reforms if elected last week.
Addressing a press conference in Seoul, Chung said he would decide on whether to run “after meeting with prominent figures in international football and listening to their opinions”.
SlickAs
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None of those are inspiring. People who have never tried, believe that managing a large amount of people and money is easy-peasy, and anyone can do it. Hell, I used to believe that when I was a kid too. But the fact is that some people are just better at managing huge teams of people, getting the best out of their division heads when they are unsupervised, managing a diverse range of stake holder, and doing so across countries, continents and languages requires a seasoned pro. Louis Figo ain't it. Realistically, someone who has turned around a massive company would be a good bet. General Motors was bailed out in the financial crisis and is now turning a profit for example. Some guy was put in charge to do that. Hire him. He has fired the VP;s, renegotiated pensions with the unions, terminated long time suppliers, laid off 25% of the employees, worked out which ones were fat and which essential ... all the things needed for a FIFA reform Or maybe a former Prime-Minister. Like the former Prime-Minister of Denmark or Canada or something. Not some politician who prospered within the rotten halls of FIFA. None of those blokes who are all essentially politicians. Even Louis Figo is a politician. He makes a good speech, but if he hired that dude who overhauled GM as his right-hand man, you must admit Figo would be relegated into the corner while feeling stupid as the man got the stuff done.