By Andrew Warshaw
January 26 – Michael van Praag, the Dutch football chief who led a much-publicised European rebellion against Sepp Blatter’s leadership of FIFA last summer, emerged today as a surprise late contender to unseat the Swiss veteran at the presidential election in four months’ time.
Van Praag made his move three days before the deadline for candidates to put their names forward, sending the UEFA executive committee into closed session at the end of an otherwise routine meeting at its headquarters on Lake Geneva.
With UEFA president Michel Platini ruling himself out of the race to take over from Blatter at the election on May 29, it was assumed that no-one else from Europe would dare enter the fray, given his limited chance of success.
But in the 24 hours leading up UEFA’s exco meeting, there were off-the-record comments about a “surprise” announcement and van Praag provided it, with a statement on the Dutch FA’s website confirming that he had not only decided to stand but also that he had the required five letters of support from among FIFA’s 209 federations to back his campaign.
“Michael van Praag is a candidate to succeed Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA,” it read. “On Tuesday, he sends his official candidacy with the required five letters from associations who support his candidacy to FIFA headquarters in Zurich.”
Van Praag becomes the fourth contender to announce his intention to oppose Blatter alongside former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne, outgoing FIFA vice-president Prince Ali Bin al Hussein of Jordan and ex-French international David Ginola, very much the token applicant.
Van Praag, who originally said he would not run, announced his move within a couple of days of Blatter challenging UEFA to have the courage to put up a challenger. The Dutchman said in a written statement that he changed his mind because “it is about time (FIFA) is normalised and that its full focus is back on football.”
“I had hoped there a credible opponent would come forward but that has simply not happened. In such circumstanes you must support your words with deeds and take responsibility. Now therefore I am presenting myself as a candidate,” he said.
Significantly neither Platini nor van Praag attended UEFA’s post-exco news conference, leaving it to general secretary Gianni Infantino to insist UEFA was officially endorsing neither the Dutchman nor Prince Ali, the young Jordanian reformist and up to this point the most credible of all the challengers to Blatter’s throne.
On first analysis, it would be a surprise if both were still in the contest for the ballot itself in May as they would likely split the vote among Europe’s 53 associations. By contrast, the tactic could be to jointly pick up as much support as possible – then for one of the two to take it into a head to head contest with Blatter.
“There is no candidate of UEFA,” declared Infantino. “What we provide is a platform for anyone to present their views. This is democracy. We are positive about any credible candidate coming forward. It’s not about one person or another. It’s about the process and the programmes and the manifestos but it’s positive for football that there is more than one candidate.”
Infantino sidestepped whether UEFA would vote as a block, which is highly unlikely. “We support that fact that both Michael van Praag and Prince Ali present themselves. What happens from now until May 29 must be an open and public debate about the future of football. Each association will decide according to their conscience. We have different views and different opinions ….but today is the time for encouraging a proper democratic debate. Not for counting votes.”
“We take decisions inside UEFA which may not be always be popular but you have to make football progress. We are not here to make friends.”
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