By Andrew Warshaw
January 24 – The head of Asian football, Mohamed Bin Hammam (pictured), has launched yet another broadside against FIFA President Sepp Blatter but still will not say whether he intends taking on the 74-year-old Swiss for the leadership of football’s world governing body.
Bin Hammam has been increasingly outspoken ever since voting against the decision to hold a simultaneous double ballot for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Although his native Qatar won the right to host 2022, he has called into question the way FIFA is run and is now hinting that Blatter’s lengthy tenure has done little to increase transparency.
Quoted in Doha during the current Asian Cup, Bin Hammam still would not be drawn on whether he would run against Blatter in the June election.
But he did say there had to be a candidate to challenge Blatter since “competition” would keep the organisation “vibrant and alive”.
Blatter said last month that he would seek a fourth four-year term in office and prospective opponents have until April 1 to enter the race to unseat him.
Many experts believe the global condemnation of FIFA’s handling of December’s World Cup vote will increase the likelihood of a challenge to Blatter’s 12-year reign.
South Korea’s Chung Mong-Joon, who was initially expected to do just that, is now no longer a credible candidate after losing the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Presidential election to Blatter cohort Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan earlier this month.
Bin Hammam had his feathers ruffled when Blatter publicly declared that the Qatar World Cup should be played in winter, without apparently running the idea past the Asian administration.
At around the same time, Bin Hammam told a television channel that the world governing body had to reform and be “more transparent” to escape a reputation for corruption.
He now has until April Fool’s Day to show his hand – though most insiders feel he will end up as the clown should he take on the present incumbent.
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