By Andrew Warshaw
December 30 – The US sports television network ESPN has invited all five candidates in FIFA’s presidential election to participate in a round-table debate on how they would solve the scandal-hit organisation’s problems.
Asian football supremo Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain, Frenchman Jerome Champagne, former FIFA vice-president Prince Ali bin al-Hussein – who lost the last election – UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino and Tokyo Sexwale of South Africa have been asked to go head-to-head in London towards the end of January, a month before the February 26 ballot to take over from Sepp Blatter.
“ESPN has invited all five candidates vying for the FIFA presidency to participate in a debate,” a spokesman told Reuters via email though it not known how many have accepted.
“Our goal is to provide a forum for an open, transparent discussion about the future governance of the sport in advance of the election that will determine who occupies the most powerful position in global football.”
No televised debate has ever before been held in a FIFA presidential election. British broadcasters BBC and Sky made a similar proposal before last May’s vote but Blatter, who ended up winning 133-73 against Prince Ali, turned down the invitation.
The UK lobby group NewFifaNow is planning a similar debate on January 27 in Brussels, convened jointly with members of the European Parliament Sports Intergroup, but whether both forums will go ahead being so close to each other must be open to question.
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