By Andrew Warshaw
October 2 – South Korea’s heavyweight candidate Chung Mong-joon faces the prospect of being forced to drop out of next February’s FIFA presidential election.
Whilst all of the focus in recent days has been on whether Michel Platini will be eligible to stand because of the notorious 2 Swiss payment he received from Sepp Blatter, speculation is growing that Chung is on the verge of being suspended over his conduct during the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process.
With the October 26 deadline for nominations just over three weeks away, Insideworldfootball has learned from highly-placed FIFA executive committee and ethics committee sources that an announcement regarding Chung’s future is imminent, possibly early next week.
Interestingly, just at the time when he faces possible sanction, Chung has decided against appearing at the Leaders in Sport Business Summit in London.
According to the preliminary conference agenda, Asia’s former FIFA vice-president is the “proposed speaker” on Wednesday afternoon to present a “manifesto for the future of world football.”
But his attendance has not been confirmed by Leaders organisers and his spokesman has now told Insideworldfootball by email that he will definitely not be taking part.
In recent weeks, with the FIFA corruption scandal deepening, Chung has portrayed himself as the voice of reform and integrity with a series of reactive comments to virtually every breaking development.
He has issued powerful rebukes against Blatter, Platini and FIFA’s entire credibility and recently called for an interim body to be set up urgently to run FIFA until next February’s election as a result of the organisation being in “total meltdown”. Yet now he faces the ignominy of being taken to task himself for alleged wrongdoing.
Last month the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported that FIFA’s ethics committee has recommended a 15-year suspension for Chung who was FIFA’s Asian vice-president for 17 years until being ousted in 2011. The reports could not be confirmed at the time but now Chung is believed to be edging closer to becoming the latest senior figure to be cited by FIFA investigators for alleged malpractice.
The probe against Chung is understood to have been prompted by him contacting FIFA executive committee members ahead of the December 2010, joint ballot for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup, informing them of a plan to contribute $777 million to worldwide football development South Korea won the 2022 vote.
This is believed to be viewed by the ethics committee as a conflict of interest verging on vote buying, though Chung’s office has already vehemently denied any wrongdoing, pointing out that that the Global Fund announcement was made public in October 2010 – two months before the vote. “Many countries, including England and Qatar, submitted plans for football development just as big, if not bigger, than South Korea’s,” a statement said.
Chung, like all the other candidates, has not yet made public the five nominations he needs from FIFA associations to run for president. He has slammed the manner in which his campaign is being undermined and has issued a damning and defiant indictment of the entire election process. But if he is ruled out and with Platini’s eligibility also under scrutiny, the main beneficiary could end up being fellow contender Prince Ali bin al-Hussein who took on Blatter in May and was beaten 133-73.
Prince Ali, until recently a FIFA vice-president exco member, has decided to stand a second time and would certainly be favoured to beat the likes of Zico and other relatively inexperienced candidates. But it is unlikely the Jordanian will have the field to himself, with at least one other heavyweight contender likely to enter the fray before the deadline.
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