By Andrew Warshaw
July 30 – Twenty-four hours after declaring he was running for FIFA president, UEFA chief Michel Platini has learned the identity of his first rival for the job, with former FIFA vice president Chung Mong-joon saying he too intends to throw his hat into the ring to take over from Sepp Blatter on February 26.
In the latest of a number of interviews, Chung repeated that he will make an official announcement shortly but that he definitely wants the job.
Chung, the 63-year-old billionaire major shareholder of the industrial giant Hyundai whose anti-Blatter views are well-known, said: “I am going to stand as a candidate for the FIFA presidency.”
He acknowledged it would be a tough fight but added: “It’s not easy, but people don’t want to be part of corruption. They want to be part of the solution. We cannot leave FIFA in this kind of disgrace.”
A Chung candidacy would open up an intriguing early race for Blatter’s job. The South Korean, who headed his national federation from 1993 to 2009 – during which time his country co-hosted the World Cup finals with Japan – would clearly hope to pick up votes in his native Asia though the confederation is already leaning towards Platini. An Asian split seems the most likely scenario, at this early stage at least.
Chung conceded he did not yet have the required backing of five FIFA federations that would allow him to stand, but he was confident of getting it.
“I hope to have more than five nominations,” he told Reuters, adding he had received assurances of support from within CONCACAF on a recent trip to the United States.
Either on that trip or at last weekend’s World Cup draw in St Petersburg, Chung is understood to have met Platini for strategy talks but it would appear the pair stopped well short of any agreement for only one of them to run. Even though Platini will be favourite to succeed Blatter, with four of the six FIFA confederations reportedly backing him, Chung cast doubt on the Frenchman’s credentials.
“He’s a good person, I like him very much, but if you ask me if this is a good time for Michel to become president of FIFA, right after Sepp Blatter, I don’t think this is good news for FIFA and I don’t think it’s good for Michel either.”
In a separate interview with the BBC, Chung claimed that unlike Platini, he would not just sit on his laurels.
“If I get elected, my job is not to enjoy the luxury of the office. My job is to change it,” he said.
“It will be very difficult for Mr Platini to have any meaningful reforms. Mr Platini enjoys institutional support from the current structure of FIFA. Mr Platini is very much a product of the current system.”
Candidates have until October 26 to come forward and Chung, for all his initial bombast, will have a fight on his hands to win the hearts and minds of FIFA’s federations. He has been out of the picture for some years having lost his Asian FIFA vice-presidency in 2010, ironically to Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein of Jordan who unsuccessfully stood against Blatter in May and has now lost the very same post.
However Chung believes he has a serious chance.
“FIFA became a closed organisation for President Blatter, his associates and his cronies and I want to change that,” he said. “We need new blood at FIFA, but we also need continuity and change. The fact that I left four years ago was a kind of blessing.”
“I understand FIFA very well, I also have the experience of running a national federation. Michel does not have that kind of experience, so I think I am qualified to invite change while preserving the strength of FIFA at the same time.”
“I’m afraid President Blatter has a kind of plan to damage my candidacy, but if he tries to do something bad to my candidacy I will try to fight that.”
However, Asian Football Confederation chief Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim, who backed Blatter last time over Prince Ali, strongly implied that once again Asia would not be endorsing one of its own candidates, describing Platini as “a unique candidate who would bring stability and a smooth transition to normality for FIFA in this difficult situation.”
Amidst shifting alliances and allegiances, what a modernist like Prince Ali might think of a Chung candidacy is one of many intriguing questions. One thing they clearly both have in common is mistrust of Platini.
Having counted on the majority support of Uefa in his fight against Blatter, Prince Ali, who has not yet said whether he will stand a second time, has now seemingly turned against the UEFA chief.
“Platini is not good for FIFA. Football’s fans and players deserve better. FIFA is engulfed in scandal,” said Prince Ali in a statement. “We must stop doing business as usual. The practice of back-room, under-the-table deals must end.”
“What is clear is that FIFA needs new, independent leadership, untainted by the practices of the past.”
Meanwhile, former Argentine legend Diego Maradona has come out with more rhetoric that few will take seriously.
This time he said he wants to fight the “mafia” behind the corruption in FIFA but stopped short of saying he would run for president. “I have to fight the mafia that still remains inside FIFA. I have to fight those who have for a long time stolen from inside FIFA,” he told a local television station.
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