By Andrew Warshaw
August 13 – Another unfamiliar figure has emerged to stake a claim to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president. Former Trinidad and Tobago international midfielder David Nakhid , who played 35 times for his country, is the latest name to say he will stand in February’s election.
Nakhid is based in Lebanon where he runs a football academy but has reportedly returned to the Caribbean to seek support. In order to be a candidate, he would need the backing of five national associations but it is not clear if he fulfils the criterion of having been actively involved in the game for two of the previous five years.
“I have put my hat in the ring and we are looking forward to the challenge,” he told Reuters, adding that he was “optimistic” of getting the five nominations.
Nakhid said he had met with Caribbean Football Union (CFU) president Gordon Derrick in Antigua and had been invited to speak to the CFU’s executive committee on Saturday. The CFU commands 25 of CONCACAF’s 35 votes.
“FIFA’s focus must be on development accompanied by proper oversight,” said Nakhid, who has been strongly critical of Trinidad’s former FIFA vice-president and ex-CONCACAF president Jack Warner.
“This region has been under-developed due to the inept leadership that came from this part of the world. Jack Warner never really represented this region.”
In a separate interview with a Caribbean radio station, he added: “We are looking at the Caribbean and we’re seeing a certain vacuum in leadership, especially with the turmoil that is taking place within FIFA, within CONCACAF and, by extension CFU.”
“We’ve been looking at that over the last few months and we feel now is the time for someone to step up from this part of the world, in a positive light, very much different to what it has been before, and take us forward.”
So far UEFA president Michel Platini, ex-FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-joon of South Korea, Brazilian icon Zico and Liberian FA chairman Musa Bility have said they want to run though only the first two look like genuine heavyweight contenders (Chung is formally declaring on Monday) while Bility doesn’t even have the majority support of his own African continent.
But Nakhid says he fulfils a number of criteria. “I’ve played in all the confederations that you can think of. I speak five or six languages. I have the academic background that is needed for FIFA, more so than any of the others that have put themselves forward.”
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