By Andrew Warshaw
April 14 – The Fifa presidential campaign swings into the Bahamas this week, with Concacaf the latest battle ground for those bidding for power on May 29.
Although Sepp Blatter has considerable support in the region, the United States – arguably the confederation’s most influential single member along with Mexico – was one of the five countries that officially nominated Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, considered by most observers to be Blatter’s main rival.
And significantly, CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb has already stated that his confederation will not push members to vote as a bloc on May 29 which makes Thursday’s confederation congress fertile lobbying territory.
And that has not been lost on Luis Figo, the rank outsider.
Figo is hoping to woo the smaller Caribbean nations, who make up the majority of CONCACAF federations and who meet separately on Wednesday.
“One of the key aspects I want to talk about is my suggestion to distribute 50 per cent of FIFA’s revenues directly to the member associations for solidarity over four years,” Figo said.
“This means eight million dollars per member association over four years, two million dollars per member association per year when presently they only receive £255,000 per year.”
Prince Ali has made it clear he will focus on those federations who are short of basic needs if he is elected.
Figo has similar targets.
“I will also allocate another $300 million to be distributed to the member associations in highest need, ear-marked for the construction of specific football infrastructure projects,” he said.
“This means an additional two million dollars for 150 federation over four years. From what I’ve been hearing and analysing, some of this investment will be done in the CONCACAF region.”