By Andrew Warshaw
October 20 – UEFA are considering lining up Dutch FA boss Michael van Praag (pictured) for another crack at the FIFA presidency if, as anticipated, Michel Platini’s candidacy goes up in smoke.
Insideworldfootball understands that if there is no agreement to back a candidate from another continent, Van Praag, who pulled out shortly before the last ballot in May, could enter the race before Monday’s deadline in order to challenge Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan and, in all probability, Asian football supremo Sheik Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa for the right to succeed Sepp Blatter in February.
Salman is expected to formally announce his candidacy imminently, possibly around Tuesday’s emergency meeting of FIFA’s top brass in Zurich when a decision is expected to be taken not to delay February’s election.
Although UEFA has insisted there is no plan B and that its entire membership are solidly behind their leader, the more likely reality is that Platini’s FIFA presidential hopes are over now that both he and Blatter have admitted there was no written agreement over the infamous SFr2 million payment made in 2011 for work carried out nine years earlier by Platini when the pair worked together and which led to their respective 90-day bans.
It is understood European nations were split at last week’s emergency UEFA summit over whether to support Platini or cast him adrift.
Platini’s lawyer tried to persuade the 54 members that the Frenchman was innocent and should be given a chance to clear his name but failed to unify them. “There was nothing new provided at all,” one European federation chief executive told Insideworldfootball. “No evidence was presented to suggest that it was anything other than word of mouth.
“It just didn’t wash with many of us. If it had been a disciplinary hearing about a player or a club or a manager, they’d have been bounced out straight away. Yet this is what we were asked to accept.”
With FIFA’s corruption crisis intensifying following allegations of vote-buying surrounding the 2006 World Cup in Germany, its executive committee – minus Blatter and Platini – will try on Tuesday to find a path through all the mayhem though postponing February’s election to allow Blatter and Platini more time to clear their names is becoming increasingly unlikely.
That means all candidates will have to declare their interest by the October 26 deadline, with van Praag a potential contender so that Europe does not get left behind.
“We are waiting to see what happens,” said the afore-mentioned federation executive. “We don’t know enough about Salman’s credentials and we only backed Prince Ali last time because he was the anti-Blatter candidate. This time it’s about someone running FIFA for the next few years.
“We will get feedback from the other confederations in terms of who is being put forward. If it is felt that none of the candidates are credible, a plan B could be put forward involving van Praag. In the event Platini is cleared and is able to run in February, Michael would step aside like he did last time. That was the talk at our meeting last week. A lot of people have encouraged Michael to put his hat in the ring.”
Even if Blatter and Platini win their appeals, there is little chance of either of them returning to power. Ethics investigators are pressing ahead to try and complete their investigation before the end of the current 90-day time frame.
Tuesday’s exco meeting, which will be chaired by Cameroon’s Issa Hayatou who has stepped in as interim FIFA president but has no ambitions to take the job full-time, is expected to decide how to restructure various committees that include both Blatter and Platini.
Members will also be brought up to speed on the much-needed reform process being led by Francois Carrard, whose team have been charged with coming up with concrete binding recommendations. An update will also be provided by Domenico Scala, chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee who has put forward his own set of eminently sensible reform proposals.
It is also understood that exco members will be asked to rubber-stamp a request by the ethics committee to name individuals being investigated for corruption before actual verdicts are announced. The request is currently with FIFA’s legal committee following approval in principle last month but investigators want to see it implemented sooner rather than later to provide more transparency and less suspicion.
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