Mohamed Bin-Hammam to challenge Sepp Blatter
Chung Mong-Joon, the former FIFA Vice-President, today tweeted that his close friend and AFC President Mohamed Bin-Hammam is to challenge Sepp Blatter for the Presidency of FIFA in June.
“It seems he will challenge the FIFA presidential election in June," wrote the Korean who was unseated by a Blatter loyalist Prince Ali Bin Hussein of Jordan at the AFC Congress in Doha in January.
Bin-Hammam recently said Blatter, in charge since 1998, had spent too long at FIFA - 35 years in total, and pinned the global complaints about the organisation onto the President's back:
"Everybody is going to accuse us today as corrupted people, " he said, "because maybe people see Mr Blatter has stayed a long time in FIFA."
Blatter's to-ing and fro-ing over the date of the 2022 World Cup , toying with the possibility of other Gulf nations co-hosting and his vocal backing of India and Australia for future tournaments have been judged to be political moves designed to split the Asian vote.
Bin Hammam set himself on collision course with Blatter since the President backed Bahrain's Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in his ultimately failed attempt at unseating him at the AFC Congress in 2009.
The Qatari has until the 1st of April to formally announce his bid, but recent statements from both he and Blatter appear to confirm the inevitable.
(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile
 |
| Mohamed Bin-Hammam is to challenge Sepp Blatter |
“It seems he will challenge the FIFA presidential election in June," wrote the Korean who was unseated by a Blatter loyalist Prince Ali Bin Hussein of Jordan at the AFC Congress in Doha in January.
Bin-Hammam recently said Blatter, in charge since 1998, had spent too long at FIFA - 35 years in total, and pinned the global complaints about the organisation onto the President's back:
"Everybody is going to accuse us today as corrupted people, " he said, "because maybe people see Mr Blatter has stayed a long time in FIFA."
Blatter's to-ing and fro-ing over the date of the 2022 World Cup , toying with the possibility of other Gulf nations co-hosting and his vocal backing of India and Australia for future tournaments have been judged to be political moves designed to split the Asian vote.
Bin Hammam set himself on collision course with Blatter since the President backed Bahrain's Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in his ultimately failed attempt at unseating him at the AFC Congress in 2009.
The Qatari has until the 1st of April to formally announce his bid, but recent statements from both he and Blatter appear to confirm the inevitable.
(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile