By Andrew Warshaw
September 9 – Little over three months after being defeated by Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, the young reformer who won’t give in, put himself back in the firing line today as he officially announced he will stand again next February saying he wanted to finish where he left off.
This time, of course, Prince Ali won’t have Blatter to contend with but will still have his work cut out convincing the majority of FIFA’s 209 member federations to give him a second chance to overhaul the organisation.
With UEFA switching its majority support from Prince Ali to its own president Michel Platini and almost certainly again without the backing of his own Asian confederation, the 39-year-old royal has a daunting task on his hands getting anywhere near the 73 votes he accrued at the end of May.
But in his bullish announcement speech in his native Jordan, the outspoken advocate of substantive reform at FIFA didn’t mince his words as he put his message across as to why he was entering the fray for a second time in quick succession.
“Let me be clear. I want to finish what we started,” said Prince Ali. “Ten months ago, I was the only person who dared to challenge Mr. Blatter for the Presidency of FIFA. I ran because I believe that FIFA needs change. And I had the courage to fight for change when others were afraid.”
That appeared to be a direct and deliberate attack on Platini who, with Blatter out of the way, has now decided to put his own head above the parapet. Platini and the prince have fallen out spectacularly over the Frenchman’s previously barely disguised ambition and what Prince Ali perceives as nothing less than a betrayal of their previous accord and of proper standards of election behaviour in the way Platini is now lobbying for support
In other words, with his pride badly hurt, how he feels he was used and thrown to the wolves by Platini last time.
Prince Ali didn’t mention his previous ally by name of course but the inference was clear as he continued: “I conceded that election. Not because I was not the best candidate, but because others were using me to make room for themselves. They didn’t have the guts to run, but I did. Ever since President Blatter promised his resignation just a few days later, they have been scrambling to secure the job for themselves.”
“I didn’t stand for election the first time to make way for others. This election should be about football and not personal ambition. My ambition now is to make FIFA worthy of representing the greatest sport and the greatest fans on the planet.”
Would-be successors to Blatter have until October 26 to gain at least five written nominations if they wish to be official candidates. Prince Ali will doubtless gain the support of his native Jordan and probably the United States which backed him last time.
One might have thought that after being bruised by the manner of his defeat to Blatter, the former FIFA vice-president would have stuck by his previous intention to walk away from football’s world governing body and leave the battle ground vacated to the likes of Michel Platini, Chung Mong-joon and a number of less known candidates who are already seen as also-rans.
But Prince Ali clearly believes that now he is no longer shackled by FIFA protocol – he is out of the organisation completely having lost his exco place – he can speak his mind more persuasively without fear of offending anyone in power. His first opportunity to do that very thing will be in London tomorrow when he returns to the UK to give a speech on governance.
“There is no need for secrecy,” Prince told the Soccerex conference in Manchester earlier this week. “People want to know what we are, who we are, how the money is spent, how much are paid and that is transparency and openness. It’s OK to ask for truly independent outside bodies to help us out in reforming the organisation and if we do that correctly we will get our sponsors much more excited.”
“We have to look to the future now and we have very little time. The whole world is watching and as much as people love the sport of football the reputation of FIFA is very poor and that’s a real shame.”
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