Prince Ali Poised to Join FIFA Presidential Race -- On the Scene

(ATR) Prince Ali bin Al Hussein dropped the biggest hint yet on Monday that he will run for the FIFA presidency again.

The former executive committee member and vice president was speaking at the Soccerex Global Convention in Manchester when he addressed the possibility of bidding to succeed Sepp Blatter.

Prince Ali was the sole challenger to Blatter at the election in May at FIFA’s congress in Zurich. But after receiving only 73 votes in the first round he conceded defeat.Blatter was re-elected, only to announce his intention to stand down four days later amid the crisis surrounding world football, which includes investigations by US and Swiss authorities into alleged corruption and years of extortion.

Prince Ali of Jordan maintained his belief that the new president - who will be elected at an extraordinary congress on Feb.. 26 in Zurich - should be free of FIFA’s tainted past.

"Right now, I’m talking to national associations, listening to their opinions on what they seek for the future and also giving my own ideas," he said when asked about his possible ambitions for the role. "I think that right now we need a candidate who is forward-thinking, who would bring some new ideas and who is not tainted by the past as well.

"What I’ll say for you right now is stay tuned. Just stay tuned."

Prince Ali’s comments came with a healthy amount of smiling, suggesting he is finding life outside of FIFA more relaxing at least. However, he returned to a serious manner when explaining what he thought was a flawed FIFA presidential election process from the outset earlier this year.

"The way the election process took place was very difficult in terms of a lot of pressure being put on confederations present not to have public debate," he told the Soccerex delegates.

"There was a little bit of intimidation. It’s a way of saying that if you have a congress at a confederation, then the candidates cannot take the stage and much less have a debate. And I think that is completely opposite to what we want in democracy in football."

His comments refer to Blatter but not him being allowed to take the stage at all confederations' congresses prior to the May election, other than at UEFA's meeting in Vienna. Prince Ali was the UEFA-backed candidate, the preferred choice of president Michel Platini.

"You cannot have the most popular sport in the world being metered in this way. I hope and I want to make sure the next election process is done properly, correctly and therefore that the whole world has the ability to really look and see what is possible in this election," the prince said

Prince Ali added that Blatter "should have stood down a long time ago", if he really had the best interests of football at heart.

The candidates standing for the FIFA presidency at the moment are Platini andSouth Korea's Chung Mong-joon, a former vice president himself, who was ousted from FIFA's top table by Prince Ali in 2011.

The Frenchman is thought to have significant backing and not just in Europe. But either his appointment or Chung’s would be a mistake, according to Prince Ali.

"I think looking at the candidates, the most important thing is to have new ideas and a new beginning. Therefore, any candidate who has been in the organisation for a long time I don’t think is what is needed at this moment in time.

"I have tremendous respect for Mr Platini both as a UEFA president and as a former football player. But at the same time there is a difference between UEFA and FIFA. FIFA is in a crisis right now and we need a new beginning.

"And whether anybody likes it or not, to be honest, Michel Platini’s introduction into football governance was as a protégé of Sepp Blatter. That’s a reality. So therefore we need a new beginning."

Reported in Manchester by Christian Radnedge

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