FIFA Presidential elections are different. So it was probably par for the course that the first candidate out of the traps – and this more than 16 months before any vote – should at once cast doubt on his candidacy by refusing to make clear whether he would stay in the race if the incumbent President decides to run. Indeed, he admitted he did not think he could beat Joseph Blatter, who will mark 16 years in the post at this summer’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil, if he does stand.
So what to make of Monday’s well-attended media event in London at which Jérôme Champagne, a key member of Blatter’s FIFA team until he was ousted four years ago, launched his candidacy to succeed Blatter as FIFA President?
The first thing to point out is that, while Champagne – for now – is making a virtue of being a one-man band and handling all aspects of his campaign himself, this was no hastily-thrown-together, half-baked affair.
The carefully selected venue was on Great Queen Street, where the Football Association (FA) was formed just over 150 years ago – shades of Ser Miang Ng’s choice of the Sorbonne as the place to launch his campaign for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Presidency last May.
The programme, as enunciated in three position papers available for anyone to read at www.jeromechampagne2015.com, is extraordinarily detailed, so much so that one seasoned observer commented that the new candidate needed a sub-editor.
There was even a coup de théatre in the form of a videotaped message of support from a certain Edson Arantes do Nascimento – Pelé.
Would this highly intelligent former French diplomat, and Saint-Etienne fan, go to all this trouble, at his own expense, for nothing? I don’t think so.
So what might have motivated him to fire the starting-pistol on his campaign before other potential candidates have arrived at the warm-up track?
There are two obvious alternative scenarios to consider here: either Blatter will run, or he won’t. For now, this remains completely up in the air. The veteran administrator’s latest contribution on the subject was to the effect that everything remained open, but he would state his intention before the FIFA Congress on June 11.
Let’s say that he does declare (as, frankly, most observers still expect him to do); in that case, Champagne’s Presidential ambitions, by his own admission, would probably be as doomed as Ser Miang Ng’s turned out to be.
But at least he would have had up to five months in which his ideas were up for debate and warranting serious attention.
You might even see his carefully-pored-over platform as a pitch for the secretary general-ship post-2015, should incumbent Jérôme Valcke ship more hot water over the unexpectedly turbulent run-up to what should be a landmark World Cup in Brazil.
Champagne, after all, has always been seen as a close ally of Blatter’s – so much so that he felt the need on Monday to emphasise that he was not “manipulated” by him.
As Blatter himself demonstrated in 1998, the secretary general’s office might then prove a perfect base from which to launch a renewed bid for the Presidency when the Swiss master politician finally is ready to step aside.
The other alternative, of course, is that Blatter drops a bomb-shell and does not run. The incessant travel makes the FIFA Presidency a gruelling post for any 77-year-old, however energetic, and there have been times in this latest term when I have thought even he was looking his age.
The man from Visp self-evidently relishes his job, though, like few others on the planet. For this to happen, therefore, I think he would need to have discovered an alternative interest that would consume him in the long hours he is accustomed to devoting to football.
Does Champagne – who, once again, knows the FIFA President well – sense something of this nature is in the wind, and that there is consequently at least a sporting chance that Blatter will call it a day? Impossible to say.
But, either way, you can understand why the Frenchman might again conclude he had little to lose from throwing his hat into the ring early.
As an outsider in the race under just about any conceivable circumstances, Champagne’s message would risk getting lost if he delayed his declaration until the heavyweights for the succession – a category into which you might put UEFA boss Michel Platini, perhaps other confederation challengers, and Valcke – swung into action.
As it is, Champagne’s platform, which commands respect however small you think the chances of it being implemented, is now out there with some prospect of gaining traction before potential rivals have entered the game.
Like I say, they are different, FIFA Presidential elections.
David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen’s Twitter feed can be accessed at www.twitter.com/dodo938.