FIFA President Sepp Blatter has accused UEFA "of lacking the 'courage' to challenge his leadership, calling on the European governing body to be 'respectful' of his wish to remain in office for a fifth term," according to Mark Cue of the LONDON TIMES.
Michel Platini, Blatter’s UEFA’s counterpart, "has called for Blatter to be replaced but ruled himself out of the presidential election in August." Blatter: "They want to get rid of me. All this opposition is coming now it’s unfortunate to say it, it’s coming from Nyon [where UEFA is based] from UEFA. They don’t have the courage to come in. So let me go [on] -- be respectful! Because in football you learn to win but you also learn to lose. So I’m going now. If I win the better, if I lose okay!"
Blatter "has strong support from other continental confederations despite the world governing body being engulfed by controversy since awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively" (LONDON TIMES, 1/26). CNN's Chris Murphy reported Dutch FA (KNVB) President Michael van Praag "has joined the race to become FIFA's next president."
The 66-year-old has been at the helm of the KNVB since Aug. '08 and has openly called for Blatter "to step down."
He announced his decision to stand on the body's official website and "raised concerns about FIFA's current leadership in the process." Van Praag:
"I am very worried about the deteriorating situation at FIFA, the public opinion, the trustworthiness is very bad and with me a lot of people in the world believe so. I was hoping that a credible, fresh face would stand up to do it but unfortunately that is not the case. So that's why I decided to take my own responsibility, especially after what I said in Sao Paulo and therefore I go for it" (CNN, 1/26).
TOO BIG TO CHALLENGE: TIMES LIVE reported Bayern Munich Chair Karl-Heinz Rummenigge "has criticised UEFA for lacking a coherent position in the search for a candidate to stand against" Blatter. However, Rummenigge said that a UEFA candidate "would in any case have no chance against Blatter." He said,
"Even Michel Platini would have no chance against Blatter. As long as he (Blatter) is a candidate he will win. His power base is too big, the large majority will vote for him" (TIMES LIVE, 1/26).