Former Portuguese footballer Luis Figo "launched his campaign" to become the next president of FIFA, according to Tom Peck of the London INDEPENDENT. Figo said, “I am not the kind of man who sits on the side and refuses to act. It is time for me to give back to the world of football everything it gave me." He said that his priority "was to restore the image" of FIFA. He also said that FIFA “does not need” its $1.5B financial reserves, and if elected in May he would immediately return $1B to FIFA’s member associations. Figo: "That is their money, not FIFA’s money." Asked his opinion on current President Sepp Blatter, Figo said, “I respect him as I respect all the other candidates" (INDEPENDENT, 2/19). REUTERS' Mike Collett wrote Figo proposed an increase from 32 to "40 or 48" teams at the World Cup finals as part of his FIFA presidential manifesto. Figo: "I believe we should consider proposals to expand the competition to a 40 or even 48 team World Cup. Both these options are feasible with an extra three to four days of tournament play. If this expansion were to take place I believe that additional teams should come from non-European nations." He suggested that two 24-team tournaments "could be played simultaneously on two different continents with a final knockout stage in one country" (REUTERS, 2/19). The BBC reported Figo, the 2001 FIFA world player of the year, also proposed:
- Spreading half of FIFA's $2.5B revenue over four years to associations to fund grassroots football.
- Increased use of technology in the game, using sin-bins for unsporting behavior.
- Reverting back to the previous interpretation of the offside rule, "where a player is judged offside whether directly involved in the play or not" (BBC, 2/19).
