FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan believes that FIFA is taking the "wrong approach to development of the sport, leaving many national associations without basics such as kit and pitches," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. He said that FIFA was "irresponsible" to decide the allocation of slots for the 2018 World Cup on the day after the presidential election in May and that spending $27M on a film about itself was an "example of poor management." FIFA said in its financial report published on Friday that it reinvested $1.052B of its revenue from '11-14 in the development of football around the world. But Prince Ali, who, along with Dutch FA President Michael van Praag and former Portugal forward Luis Figo, is challenging Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency in May, said the money was "not being well spent." Prince Ali: "I cannot imagine that an organization with the wealth that it (FIFA) has, and the budget that it has, does not yet guarantee that every single national association has the basics of having pitches, kits and so on." He added that FIFA's development policy was "about image more than reality." Prince Ali: "You look at the Caribbean, they have real physical challenges, again in Asia, the same in Africa" (REUTERS, 3/26).
