FIFA Presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein has claimed here there is a “culture of intimidation” within football’s governing body and said he cannot be a part of the world governing body if Sepp Blatter is re-elected.
Prince Ali, President of the Jordanian Football Association and a member of the FIFA ruling Executive Committee since 2011, also revealed for the first time that the countries who had nominated him are Belarus, Georgia, Malta and the United States, as well as Jordan and England.
“There has been a culture of intimidation within FIFA,” he told a news conference.
“In the past people have taken a principled stand and have been punished for it.
“I hope that things are played fairly and rightly but obviously an incumbent has an advantage.
“I am totally committed to this and my aim is to win this election.
“I could not see myself in FIFA for the next few years otherwise.”
FIFA’s Member Associations have now officially received the candidature files for Prince Ali, Blatter, President of the Royal Dutch Football Association Michael van Praag and Portugal’s former FIFA World Player of the Year Luis Figo.
The election is due to take place in Zurich on May 29.
Once all four have been integrity-checked, the Ad-Hoc Electoral Committee will reconvene to review all submission and once this process has been completed, they will formally admit and declare the candidates who are eligible to become FIFA President.
Frenchman Jérôme Champagne announced yesterday he did not have the required support to officially enter the race, while former France star David Ginola’s whose candidacy was widely denounced as a publicity stunt, pulled out of the running last week.
The 39-year-old Prince Ali, bidding to deny the Swiss a fifth term, believes there should be more transparency within world football’s governing body and he has called for a public debate ahead of the election.
“If we are talking about transparency, I would like to see a public debate including the incumbent so that everyone across the world knows our positions,” he said.
His chances of dethroning Blatter, however, were dealt a blow just a couple of weeks after he announced his candidacy by the fact that the Asian Football Confederation announced they would not be supporting his campaign.
But Prince Ali claimed that will not hamper his chances of becoming the next FIFA President as this is a “global election”.
“I don’t think that will be an issue,” Prince Ali added.
“This is a candidacy for the whole world and not all confederations are united at the moment.”
Despite the miasma of corruption allegations made towards FIFA and the fact that he could face three different challengers to his Presidency, Blatter remains the red-hot favourite to continue in a role he has held since 1998.
Prince Ali, who bases a large part of his campaign on complete reform to the governing body, believes Blatter has failed to bring about changes he has promised to make in the past.
“If we talk about proper reform, I’m not confident I’ve seen Blatter do it,” he said.
“He’s had the chance to do so but he hasn’t done it.
“We’ve had promises from him that he won’t run again but obviously that is not the case and I think we need full honesty and integrity and we should give a chance to others.
“The President needs to be held responsible.”
This article is republished with permission from the original publisher, insidethegames.