By Andrew Warshaw in Manama, Bahrain
April 30 – There was no standing ovation and no prolonged clapping, rather warm and respectful applause. But that might have been because the FIFA president was preaching to the converted. In his final appearance before regional bodies ahead of next month’s presidential election, Sepp Blatter produced an uncharacteristically low-key address to the 47-nation Asian Football Confederation congress today, in contrast to some of the vibrant language delivered elsewhere on his travels over the past few weeks.
On his last stop before the May 29 showdown in Zurich, there was no mention of World Cup slots and few effusive remarks about the need to stick with the present incumbent.
Of course there were the usual messages about “solidarity and unity” and Blatter also made a point of mentioning the plight of Palestininian football and spoke, as he invariably does, about the need to rid the game of government interference.
But if anyone expected a speech laced with gushing electioneering slogans, they were disappointed.
Critics might describe 79-year-old Blatter’s 25-minute address as tired. In truth it certainly did not carry much potency. That, however, could be interpreted as Blatter knowing full well that Asia would be solidly behind him next month and that he didn’t need to hammer home his credentials.
There were, however, moments when Blatter made all the right noises in terms of deliberately wooing his audience.
Heaping praise on AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa, who took over in 2013 from the shamed Mohamed bin Hammam and was re-elected today for four more years, Blatter said the Bahraini had “shown a remarkable sense of organisation and diplomacy” and had “brought back the boat of the AFC into waters were not so very clear and not very clean.”
But only at the end his address did he move into rhetoric mode. “Asia is the biggest and most important continent in the world and especially in FIFA’s present and future,” said Blatter. “Don’t forget we are in elections and we have the same principles as on the field even if there is no referee – which means discipline, respect and fair play.”
One wonders what the other candidates at the Gulf Convention Centre will have made of Blatter’s speech. Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who is relinquishing his FIFA vice-presidency and is regarded as Blatter’s main rival, looked distinctly non-plussed sitting just behind Sheikh Salman.
The Jordanian royal might have strong support among his European colleagues but found himself in the frustrating position of not being allowed to address his own confederation about his plans to run FIFA if he manages to upset Blatter.
Prince Ali is confident of splitting the Asian vote but neither he nor fellow contenders Michael van Praag and Luis Figo, were permitted to take the floor, just as occurred at every other confederation congress except that of UEFA.
Van Praag revealed he had tried three times in recent weeks to get permission to speak, assisted late on by Prince Ali, but to no avail.
“I was told it would not be polite towards Mr Blatter, who was their guest, to have his opponents address the congress,” van Praag told Insideworldfootball. “It’s their right but we only had three months to campaign. It would have been a democratic opportunity to give us equal chances.”
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