Bin Hamman to challenge for FIFA presidency
Fri 18th Mar 2011 | FIFA
Mohamed Bin Hammam has announced he is to challenge Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency.
Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), will use a news conference in Kuala Lumpur on today (Friday) to start his campaign to try to end the 13-year reign of current FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
It’s understood that the English Football Association are likely to back Bin Hammam - senior figures inside the organisation want a change at the top of world football after being disgusted at England's treatment by FIFA members in the campaign for the 2018 World Cup.
The election will take place in Zurich on June 1 and Bin Hammam will travel around the world in the 75 days between now and then trying to drum up support.
If elected Bin Hammam's wants to increase the FIFA Executive Committee to 40 members whilst renaming it the 'FIFA Board'. He will also call for "greater transparency" within the organisation and will attempt to achieve this with the establishment of an appropriately-named 'Transparency Committee'.
One of the key countries he will target is China, who have long been a supporter of Blatter and who wield much influence in football, especially in Asia.
The European countries who make up UEFA are likely to be split between Blatter and Bin Hammam, as are the African nations.
Bin Hammam has a strong relationship with South America after he won their backing for Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid but even inside Asia, his own confederation, he cannot be sure of universal support.
Current president, Sepp Blatter has not had a challenger since 2002 when he beat Cameroon's Issa Hayatou in a landslide victory by 139 votes to 56.
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