By Andrew Warshaw in Manchester
September 8 – Twenty-four hours before he was due to address many of the game’s movers and shakers at the Soccerex convention in Manchester, FIFA vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, one of world football’s most committed reformists, warned that the next four years would be “make or break” for the governing body to get its act together.
Speaking in the wake of the submission of the 350-page report into possible corruption over the 2018 and 2022 bid process, Prince Ali said FIFA had to restore credibility and create a more positive public image, whoever leads it into the next era.
Sepp Blatter seems highly likely at this point in time to secure a fifth straight term of office after UEFA chief Michel Platini declared last week he would not be challenging the veteran Swiss next May.
Not for the first time, Prince Ali, who has been on the receiving end of a number political manoeuvrings within Asian football and will be forced to give up his FIFA vice-presidency in under a year, called for the organisation to stop focusing on personalities and warned FIFA needed a significant change of focus.
“We have to look at organising FIFA in terms of a reverse pyramid where you put the players and the fans and team managers, the referees at the top of the pyramid so we are just there to serve and facilitate the game,” he told BBC Radio. “That’s the way we should go in the future.”
Prince Ali, who is battling to retain some kind of major profile in the heirarchy of FIFA, said another Blatter one-man show in next year’s presidential election would not send out the most democratic message.
“Obviously incumbents have the best chance of coming back in and it’s a very big organisation with many members and each one with an equal vote,” he said, “but it’s always healthy to have a competition and I think that should be the case.
“The most important thing is that I hope that any election is not based on personality but on someone with a clear mandate who will take us not just for the next few years but 10 years down the line, someone who will have a real concrete plan.
“I think the next four years, regardless of who comes in as president, are going to be crucial years and will be make or break years for FIFA.”
Prince Ali dismissed political pressure being brought to bear on FIFA to strip Russia and/or Qatar of staging their World Cups, the former because of the incursion into Ukraine, the latter partly because of the mistreatment of migrant workers.
“The World Cup is a competition for everyone. I don’t think political atmospheres should be involved in the sport itself. It’s a dangerous precedent. The only people to suffer would be the players and the fans.”
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