With only six days to go until the FIFA presidential election, the campaigns and rivalries have manifested themselves with all the intrigue and suspense of a cheap detective novel.
Candidates Michael van Praag, head of the Dutch FA, and former Portugese player Louis Figo have pulled out of the race for football’s highest office, in a bid to support main contender Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein in his battle to unseat the long standing current President, Sepp Blatter.
Van Praag and Figo have admitted that their intention was always to withdraw from the presidential race the week before the election and pledge their support to the Prince, in the hope of toppling the 79 year old Swiss.
The candidates have spent the last 4 months travelling the globe conjuring up support for themselves, but now feel that by passing their support to the Prince, he will have a stronger support base from which to become the new head of global football.
“The main reason I withdrew is that Prince Ali, according to the information that we have, can count on much more pledged support, especially outside Europe, than me,” said van Praag.
Whether this plan will be successful remains to be seen, as Blatter commands the support of many smaller nations that are not bothered by the alleged corruption, but insist on voting for Blatter in the hope of gaining financial reward and future bargaining power.
It is for this reason that Sepp Blatter is still the overwhelming favourite for winning the election, as he apparently still commands the support of most of the Asian and African Confederations.
As a counter measure the Prince has tweaked his manifesto and pledged to increase the number of nations participating in the World Cup, and has also promised each association at least one million dollars per year for development of the game.
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Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein has built his campaign on the idea of a more transparent governing body, but has also accepted van Praag’s components of reform, such as reducing the president’s term in office to only two years, which should be supported after the 17 year controversial office term held by Blatter.
He has also pledged to pass more of the decision making back to Federation level in the hope of swaying those confederations that have not pledged support one way or the other as yet.
If 39-year-old Prince Ali is unsuccessful in his bid on the 29th of May, his tenure on the FIFA Executive Committee will be over and once again Sep Blatter will command football’s highest office with all the powers and privileges that it wields.
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