By Andrew Warshaw
May 12 – No public statement has so far been issued by any of the three candidates taking on Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency amid considerable intrigue as to what strategy agreement, if any, was reached between Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, Michael van Praag and Luis Figo at a private meeting they are believed to have held close to the headquarters of UEFA on Monday.
As the campaign moves into its final phase, it is widely anticipated that at least one of the three challengers will pull out of the race to dethrone Blatter after both Prince Ali, FIFA’s outgoing Asian vice-president, and Dutch FA president Van Praag conceded that discussions may be needed to decide on the best candidate.
Emails sent to the various parties drew no response, perhaps an indication of the highly sensitive and complex nature of the tactics being drawn up to try and prevent Blatter from securing a fifth term of office on May 29 – or at the very least taking the ballot into a second round of voting.
Meanwhile, van Praag has been given the backing of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) as the challenger most likely to tackle the problem of migrant workers engaged on building projects for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The ITUC commissioned an Ipsos MORI opinion poll in the respective countries of the four FIFA candidates asking if respondents thought FIFA should reverse its award of the 2022 World Cup if Qatar’s government did not amend its laws.
Only FIFA’s 209 member federations vote in the election and the results of the poll will have little or no bearing on the result but for what it’s worth, the ITUC said Van Praag and the Dutch FA had taken the toughest line.
“Prince Ali has also spoken strongly on the issue, but only one candidate, Michael van Praag, has put human rights in his official election manifesto,” said the ITUC.
Sharan Burrow, ITUC general secretary, added: “This poll shows there is still a great deal of public disquiet about a 2022 World Cup built on gross exploitation of migrant labour and the appalling death and injury toll.
“Even in Jordan, where we would expect strong public support for the first World Cup in the Arab world, only half the people say it should go ahead regardless of labour rights, and three in 10 remain undecided. All four candidates for the FIFA Presidency need to recognise just how much FIFA is under the spotlight on labour rights.”
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