FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein said that China is key to the future of world football and will "no doubt" host the World Cup soon, according to James Porteous of the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST.
The Jordanian "was beaten by Sepp Blatter in the last election in May, but gets a second chance after the Swiss’s downfall in the ensuing corruption scandal."
A reformer in the Asian Football Confederation, he "is the least tainted by corruption of the five presidential candidates." In an email interview, Prince Ali insisted that FIFA "was still redeemable, and outlined his plans to aid China’s president Xi Jinping’s goal of turning the country into a football superpower." He said, "FIFA doesn’t need to start again. Yes, FIFA’s crisis is unprecedented in modern sport but this is a crisis of leadership ... we need to change the culture at the top. We [need] responsible leadership which sets the example to follow." Ali said that a FIFA led by him "could help China to attract top players to its domestic leagues and develop world-class talents of its own." Prince Ali: "China deserves a FIFA that will help it build a league that will attract the top players in their prime, to their own clubs as well as having a league that can compete at the highest level. Chinese football is moving in the right direction and will no doubt one day host a World Cup" (SCMP, 1/10).
THE SAFE OPTION: REUTERS' Simon Evans wrote in a FIFA presidential election where all candidates are presenting themselves as reformers, AFC President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa "is making his pitch as the safest option to officials beleaguered by the organization's crisis."
Sheikh Salman "has his own plans" for change at world football's governing body, including splitting FIFA into separate "business" and "football" entities, and says reform is an "ongoing process." But, "perhaps conscious" of the fact that it is FIFA’s 209 member associations, and not public opinion, "that will decide the next FIFA president at a congress on Feb. 26, Salman also strikes a slightly defiant tone when discussing the corruption crisis that has hit the governing body." He said, "I don’t believe what is happening in the rest of the world is FIFA’s mistake. We can’t blame FIFA for all that happens in football in the rest of the world." Salman believes that "it is unfair that FIFA itself has been tarnished by the behavior of confederation officials." He said, "If something happens in CONCACAF or South America, people say it is FIFA; I don’t think it is so. This is purely a confederation issue" (REUTERS, 1/9). In a separate article, Evans wrote Sheikh Salman said that "if he is elected he will examine the role of the U.S law and consulting firms that were hired" by the global football body in response to a U.S. Department of Justice probe of corruption in the sport.
Sheikh Salman said that "a close look was needed because he was not fully convinced FIFA was getting enough out of the relationship."
FIFA last year hired U.S. law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and N.Y.-based crisis and communications adviser Teneo, and the two firms "have been working with FIFA's legal and communications staff at its Zurich headquarters." Sheikh Salman: "If they are doing a good job, I don't think anyone will say no, but you have to convince your board as to what are the benefits. If there is a role, a positive role for them, then that's fine. If we feel that is too much, then I am sure that we are going to review that."
Representatives of Quinn Emanuel and Teneo "declined to comment on Friday" (REUTERS, 1/9).
