By Andrew Warshaw in Doha
January 6 – Back in October, at the Leaders in Football conference in London, Chung Mong-joon, South Korea’s distinguished and highly respected FIFA veteran, made a deliberate and calculated stand against his boss, Sepp Blatter (pictured right).
The long-standing FIFA vice-president gave the broadest hint that someone – whether himself or somebody else – needed to stop Blatter running unopposed at the helm of the world governing body.
“You need competition at the summit,” Chung said in a speech to delegates.
“We need to keep FIFA healthy.”
Blatter, unusually, made no immediate response to Chung’s comments but couldn’t resist a dig when, three months on, the influential 59-year-old Korean became a victim of his own philosophy, stunningly ousted at the Asian Football Confederation congress in Doha by a man young enough to be his son.
“This is a surprise,” said Blatter after Chung, the most powerful man in Asian football, who had held his FIFA vice-presidency since 1994, was forced to hand it over to Jordan’s 35-year-old Prince Ali bin Ali Hussein.
“Sixteen years? Perhaps a bit too long,” said Blatter who, tellingly, will reach the same number himself if, as expected, he carries on for another four.
“Perhaps the younger man played the better cards – but I supported nobody.”
Maybe not in public but perhaps behind the scenes.
Insiders were stunned at the humiliating defeat for Chung, the shoo-in heavyweight beaten by the relative upstart.
According to local experts, Prince Ali was not particularly well known in Asian football circles and had possibly not even attended a single AFC congress in the past.
One reason for the unexpected upset was clearly because Prince Ali had the backing of Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, head of the Olympic Council of Asia and also of his country’s football federation.
He was the main backer of Sheikh Salman of Bahrain who narrowly lost out to Mohamed bin Hammam in a bitter battle two years ago for Bin Hammam’s own FIFA Executive Committee seat.
Bin Hammam said at the time that if he lost, he would relinquish the AFC presidency, the region’s number one job.
Sheikh Ahmad admitted after today’s vote that Prince Ali’s victory would change the face of football in the area.
“This is a huge step for FIFA and points the way forward,” he said.
Even more brazenly, he made it clear that he and his supporters would vote against Bin Hammam if he stands against Blatter for the top job on June 1.
“I can announce that the 25 people who voted for Prince Ali today will vote for President Blatter at the FIFA Congress because President Blatter deserves to continue as FIFA president.”
Intriguingly, Bin Hammam and the anti-Blatter Chung had become firm allies after patching up their differences and were actively working together.
But after Sheikh Ahmad’s remarks, Bin Hammam will think twice before deciding whether to oppose Blatter after what is unquestionably a major power shift immediately below him in his own confederation’s pecking order.
“Dr Chung is a good man but in the last 20 years we have not seen any added value from him, apart from football in his own country,” said Sheikh Ahmad.
“We believe Prince Ali’s appointment will bring stability and develop the game more.”
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