By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 8 – FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan says he in favour of term limits for senior officials even though the idea was firmly rejected by the organisation’s Congress three months ago.
Term limits was one of the key reforms originally recommended by Mark Pieth, the Swiss governance expert appointed by FIFA to make proposals for change following the worst corruption-tainted period in its history.
The idea was voted down in Sao Paulo in June, but speaking at the Soccerex Global Convention on the day FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced he was definitely standing for a fifth term that will take him into his 80s, Prince Ali said a ceiling on mandates was still preferable down the road – as distinct from age limits.
Prince Ali, 38, was born in 1975, the same year that Blatter joined FIFA: “He has the full right to stand again and that looks to be what he has in mind,” said Prince Ali.
“If you are fit enough to do the job, I don’t have a problem with that whatever age you are. But the process of reform within FIFA needs to continue and eventually we should look at instigating term limits and maybe not just for the FIFA president but also for executive committee members as well, including myself. People would be much happier with knowing there are limits.”
Prince Ali, head of the Jordanian FA who will lose his FIFA vice-presidency next spring, wants to maintain a reformist presence within world football’s hierarchy – but that doesn’t mean taking on Blatter who could well end up running unopposed yet again.
“It is always good to have new ideas and new opinions, and that’s the way forward. But me as a candidate for next year? No, though I would like to remain on the executive committee,” he said.
On Asia, Prince Ali maintained the region needed a 10-year strategy to improve its performances on the pitch after not one of the four Asian countries at the World Cup this summer – Japan, South Korea, Australia and Iran – made it past the opening group stages.
“If we are going to have the World Cup in 2022 in Qatar in our part of the world we want to participate and participate in strength and we need a long term strategy to aid our development.”
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