By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
March 27 – He is guarded about how many votes he will pick up and where they will come from. And he won’t guarantee he will stay the course. Yet there is a certain gravitas, authority, self-belief and dry humour about Michael van Praag that gives the impression the Dutch FA president might, just might, just have a fighting chance of upsetting Sepp Blatter at the FIFA presidential election on May 29.
It’s a long shot of course, just as it is with Prince Ali al-bin Hussein and Luis Figo, the other contenders. But holding court with a group of reporters on the fringes of the UEFA Congress in Vienna this week, van Praag went to great lengths to make it clear he was not UEFA’s puppet contender and that he intended to give Blatter a run for his money.
The UEFA executive committee member and former Ajax boss expressed his disappointment at Blatter declining the offer both of a live televised debate with the other three candidates, and the chance to go head to head with his rivals by formally addressing UEFA’s 54 members at the end of the Congress.
“For clarity and to avoid misunderstandings the purest way to know what all the four people think and what they want and like and dislike, is such a debate,” argued Van Praag.
Much has been of the three challengers to Blatter having similar manifestos and ideas but that sits fine with van Praag. “All three of us see what is wrong with FIFA and want change so it’s no surprise we think the same way.”
Except that under him, he says, he won’t let FIFA stand still, stagnate or become complacent. ”One difference perhaps is that I have quite some experience when it comes to re-organisation, both in business and in football. You have to keep looking again and again at what your vision is, what you are actually for. I’m used to that. Another huge difference is that I will only go for one four-year term.”
Reducing FIFA’s overheads would be high on van Praag’s list of priorities. “I have never heard in the six years that I’ve been around at FIFA anyone say ‘let’s have a look at cutting costs’. Yet it’s very important.
“We should not forget FIFA is a member organisation, therefore it’s money that belongs to the associations whether it’s England, Holland, Burundi or Papua New Guinea. It’s their money. So when FIFA spends, it has to make sure the members have a clear view how and why it s spent. I have the business experience to focus on this,” he said.
Despite Blatter’s attempts to reform FIFA, van Praag still sees areas he finds untouched.
“The president is the only elected person which means members of FIFA are entitled to know what he earns.” Another area of concern for him is the recent decision to extend Fox’s World Cup broadcasting rights to 2026.
“It’s very strange,” said van Praag of FIFA awarding the contract last month without seemingly inviting other broadcasters to bid. Adding the 2026 rights was seen as a way of FIFA heading off possible legal action for switching the 2022 Qatar World Cup to November-December.
But van Praag countered: “I read there had been no tender. It’s not something I would do. In 2015 that is not the way we work anymore.”
Experienced at dealing with the media, van Praag, 67, is quick to read any signs of being manipulated in order to meet a certain agenda. He knows when to be diplomatic and won’t, for instance, talk about the qualities or otherwise of his fellow candidates.
Nor will he reveal his election tactics and where he most needs to attract support. “I do know and could tell you, but I won’t. All I will say is that I will try to convince as many people as possible.”
He also knows when to adopt the opposite style of behaviour, when to be outspoken, which buttons to push, when to push them and how hard.
Witness last summer’s infamous UEFA tirade against Blatter in Sao Paulo led by van Praag when he told Blatter to his face to stand down.
He admits he never intended actually running himself for president and revealed he only changed his mind when Jerome Champagne withdrew from the race.
“We knew there might be one or two candidates but we weren’t sure. When I got a phone call at the beginning of December from Mr Champagne to say he wasn’t sure he could get the five letters of support, and I heard Prince Ali may not get his five either, I realised we could end up in the same situation as three years ago when we only had Mr Blatter. That’s when I decided, after talking to my family, to stand myself.”
To show there was nothing personal against Blatter, who he says he likes very much as a person, one of the first things van Praag did out of courtesy after making his decision was to call the veteran Swiss. Even, he says, before he informed UEFA president Michel Platini he was standing.
Van Praag offered Blatter an honorary role if he won in order to continue “much of the good work he has done – people forget that.” Even though the invitation is understood to have been rejected.
“But I also told him I believed the FIFA president has the final responsibility for the state FIFA was in and that we therefore needed a new face.”
The mix of integrity and straightforwardness form important elements of van Praag’s campaign in equal measure. He refutes any hint of being in Uefa’s pocket even though it is likely a good number of their members will vote for him. “I am doing things in my own way. Believe me, I don’t have to pretend about anything.”
With a €400,000 campaign budget paid for by the Dutch FA, he is travelling to see as many of the 209 voting member countries as possible but recognises he won’t see anywhere near all of them before May 29.
“I’ve had to make choices. But there are three people trying to convince voters. Perhaps in May we can better analyse the numbers (we may get). Maybe then we can have a debate too whether it might be better to have fewer candidates. It’s too early to judge.”
Would he be prepared to be the one to ultimately drop out of the race? “I can’t guarantee anything. But what I can say is that I have been given a warm reception everywhere I’ve been.”
And if (when) Blatter wins. What next? “I’m of the opinion that Mr Blatter will never ever be accepted as the person to turn things round, even given the reform process he has tried to put in place.”
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