By Andrew Warshaw
November 26 – FIFA vice-president Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein insists he has not yet decided whether to take on Sepp Blatter for the presidency next year as speculation intensifies that the reform-minded Jordanian could contest the election in May.
Britain’s Sun newspaper reported today, without naming its source or quoting any official by name, that Prince Ali had made up his mind to stand, fuelling rumours first published by this website last month that he has been persuaded to go for the top job in world football.
However a brief statement released by Prince Ali’s office, the first since the rumours began, said simply that he “has not confirmed or denied” whether to take on Blatter though a high-ranking source close to the 38-year-old told Insideworldfootball it “looks unlikely at this stage.”
Prince Ali is one of several FIFA executive committee members who want Michael Garcia’s 2018 and 2022 World Cup anti-corruption report published in full.
Prince Ali, whose modernist views are not shared amongst the FIFA old guard, has until January 29 to officially show his hand and declare whether to stand four months later in arguably the most eagerly awaited FIFA presidential election of recent times.
While Blatter is odds-on favourite to gain a fifth straight term, Prince Ali could well have the support of UEFA – who are looking for a candidate to back from another region after Michel Platini ruled himself out – as well as strong support from north America.
But whether he could count on his own Asian confederation is a matter for conjecture since Asian Football Confederation president Sheik Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa is a strong Blatter ally. Salman, for what its worth, has his own AFC election battle ahead of him a few weeks before the FIFA presidential ballot though Prince Ali is not likely to contest that.
Significantly, Prince Ali’s term as the AFC’s FIFA vice-president comes to an end next year and he has already indicated that, in order to maintain a voice at FIFA’s top table, he will contest one of the AFC’s three other FIFA exco seats, running against possibly up to five rival candidates.
That would at least give him a platform from which to push for further FIFA reform.
Prince Ali’s half-brother, International Olympic Committee member Prince Feisal Al Hussein, asked if he had heard of his intentions to stand against Blatter, was quoted as saying: “I am not aware of anything at all. He has never mentioned that to me, it has never come up.”
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