Senior officials said that African countries "will vote overwhelmingly" for Sepp Blatter in this year’s FIFA presidential election, according to Owen Gibson of the London GUARDIAN. Ghana FA President and Confederation of African Football exco member Kwesi Nyantakyi: "Africa is solidly behind Blatter. You will find he is very popular on the continent." Former South African FA President Molefi Oliphant, who still serves on the CAF executive, said, "The continent is united behind him." Previous endorsements from CAF, however, "have not necessarily translated into votes." African football’s controlling body promised Lennart Johansson a block of votes in '98 but member associations "took no heed and helped Blatter to victory" (GUARDIAN, 1/27). REUTERS' Mark Gleeson reported affection for Blatter "stems from the generous financial assistance he has given Africa during his 17-year tenure." Nyantakyi: "He has done a lot for the continent. It is he who has set up the financial assistance programs and who through the Goal project has built infrastructure in all of the countries. The Europeans don’t understand that. They say it is not his own money but FIFA’s, but that’s not the point. He is the one who set up all the assistance programs that have helped boost African football."
Goal is Blatter’s pet project, inaugurated not long after he came to power in '98 that "has built training centres, accommodation, pitches and offices for cash-strapped associations" (REUTERS, 1/27).
CALLING FOR A REDO: In London, Gibson reported the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe "has called on FIFA to rerun the vote to host the 2022 World Cup, claiming in a report that the original process was 'radically flawed' due to bribery and corruption."
The report, "following a series of hearings last year, claims that 'large sums of money' that were paid to more than 30 African football officials" by the former Qatari FIFA VP Mohammed bin Hammam "helped secure the votes" of CAF (GUARDIAN, 1/27).
CANDIDATE'S FORUM: FIFA presidential candidate David Ginola appeared on ESPN’s “ESPN FC” on Tuesday to discuss his candidacy for the FIFA presidency. ESPN’s Adrian Healey said a “lot of people are viewing your running” for the FIFA presidency as “perhaps a publicity stunt.” Ginola said, “It's not a publicity stunt and this is why yesterday, even for my birthday, we were working very hard. It's all about making changes at FIFA to restore the trust amongst the people in the world, because I believe that as a former football player, football belongs to the fans, and my campaign is with and for the fans, and this is how it is so it's very serious.” Ginola said since his initial press conference about 10 days ago to announce his candidacy, he has been “introducing each day a new policy and details about a lot of things we want to change at FIFA. People around the world are starting to respond in a perfect way because they still believe that FIFA should be ruled in a different way, should be seen as a very trustable organization, and our policy is going toward those subjects, so it's well received.” Ginola addressed the issue of him being compensated by bookmaker Paddy Power and said, “Right from the beginning, we needed someone to step up with us, to stand for the launch of the campaign, and, obviously, because we use words such as transparency right from the beginning, we wanted to be crystal clear with everyone. I have been paid.” Ginola said he has been thinking about running for the presidency “for several months,” but it is a “huge task in front of me” ("ESPN FC,” ESPNews, 1/26).
