2nd February, 2015
Football’s world governing body FIFA announced on Monday that four candidates are bidding to become its president, including long-time incumbent Sepp Blatter.
The three others who have thrown their hat into the ring are Asian Football Confederation vice-president Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, former Portugal international Luis Figo and Dutch football chief Michael van Praag.
Two others who had been considering making bids – former France international forward David Ginola and ex-FIFA executive official Jerome Champagne – both failed to get the necessary backing from five national associations.
A FIFA statement said that the candidature dossiers would next go before the investigatory chamber of an independent Ethics Committee to carry out integrity checks on the four men within ten days.
“Upon receipt of the results of the integrity checks, the (FIFA) Ad-hoc Electoral Committee will reconvene in order to review all of the submissions and validate their compliance with the applicable FIFA regulatory provisions.
“Following this process, the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee will formally admit and declare the candidates who are eligible for the office of FIFA President.”
After that the FIFA executive committee will meet in Zurich on May 29 and decide if Blatter will get a fifth term as president or bring in a new man.
The 78-year-old Swiss bureaucrat is seen as an outstanding favourite to win a new term despite a storm of protest over the way he runs the organisation.