South Korea's Chung Mong-joon, who is "weighing up a bid" to replace Sepp Blatter as president of "scandal-hit" FIFA, said on Friday that he will meet UEFA President Michel Platini and other leading football figures while in Berlin for the Champions League final, according to Kim Hoo-yeon of REUTERS. Chung, the billionaire scion of South Korea's Hyundai conglomerate, said on Wednesday that he would "seek the opinions" of int'l football power brokers "before making any decision about a run for the sport's top job." A statement on Chung's website said, "Chung Mong-joon is to exchange opinions on FIFA reform while meeting with soccer authorities including Michel Platini" (REUTERS, 6/5). In Seoul, John Duerden wrote Chung was a "heavy-hitter in the world of football politics" from '94-11, when he was one of FIFA's VPs. He "lost his position four years ago as he lost an election" to Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan. Now "the question is whether Chung has a chance of winning." The answer is "not clear at the moment but it is surely a long, though not impossible, shot." Whether he runs will "ultimately depend on who else does, or looks likely to" (KOREA TIMES, 6/7).
GILL RULES HIMSELF OUT: In London, Charles Sale reported England's David Gill, "who took the moral stand not to serve on any committee" chaired by Blatter, has "ruled himself out of the race to succeed him." Gill’s standing in the global game from his former role as ManU CEO "has seen him mentioned as a possible candidate even after only two years on the UEFA executive." But Gill has "already decided not to put his name forward as a candidate." He is prepared, however, "to take part in the next FIFA executive meeting even if it is chaired by Blatter, who is desperately trying to hang on to his job" until the election despite the "huge corruption scandal engulfing FIFA" (DAILY MAIL, 6/5).
FUEL FOR CRITICS: The AP's Graham Dunbar reported Blatter said on Tuesday that he plans to remain in office until a new election is held. That "hold on power is unacceptable for some soccer leaders and anti-corruption experts." Former FIFA VP Lennart Johansson, who lost the '98 presidential election "long dogged by claims
of vote-buying by Blatter supporters," said on Friday in Berlin, "He must go immediately. People
want us to be clean." Transparency Int'l, the anti-corruption advisory group
invited by FIFA to "help with Blatter's first round of reforms amid a
bribery scandal" in '11, said that the veteran leader was "not credible to
lead changes." Transparency
Int'l Managing Dir Cobus de Swardt said in a statement, "Blatter cannot oversee the 'new' FIFA, he must go now. World football cannot be left in limbo." Blatter's "preferred exit strategy does follow FIFA's statutes -- rules
he helped craft in 40 years spent at soccer's governing body" (AP, 6/5). DEUTSCHE WELLE reported German Football Federation (DFB) President Wolfgang Niersbach said that FIFA "needed to elect a successor sooner rather than later." Niersbach: "For me it's incredible the way it happened. You (Sepp Blatter) invite the whole world to a congress, you get re-elected and then four days later you resign, for whatever reason. But it's not an immediate resignation, only an announcement." He also suggested that under FIFA's statutes, Blatter could have "chosen to resign with immediate effect, in which case Senior Vice President Issa Hayatou would have taken over until an extraordinary congress could be held to elect a permanent replacement." While acknowledging that under FIFA rules four months lead time "is needed to set up an extraordinary congress," Niersbach stressed that "everything needs to go much faster" (DW, 6/5).
