‘FIFA needs Prince Ali, but election uphill battle’

AMMAN – Reforms and the urgent need of supporting football federations across the world were the main objectives that attracted the attention of local and international football experts towards HRH Prince Ali’s FIFA presidency campaign. 

They said that FIFA badly needs new blood to implement these reforms, but the prince’s mission is not an easy one as he faces a deeply rooted veteran. 

One day remains until the FIFA elections, where Prince Ali, the first Arab figure run for the presidency, is challenging the incumbent Sepp Blatter. 

A total of 209 countries are eligible to vote for this week's elections. 

Amjad Majali, the head of the sports department at Al Rai Arabic daily, described the manifesto Prince Ali presented as "transparent", especially since he calls for accountability that includes the FIFA president.

“His Highness believes that a one-man show approach is not the right way to run FIFA. He has stressed on many occasions the importance of taking strategic decisions collectively,” he told The Jordan Times in an interview at his office. 

Prince Ali, president of the Jordan Football Association and West Asian Football Federation, recently presented a framework for the future of FIFA and football founded “upon a series of reform proposals to re-establish the organisation as a credible international sports federation with improved integrity, governance and transparency — ensuring that it is fit for purpose again. His vision for change will guide his conversations over the coming weeks with national association leaders, players, coaches, sponsors, fans and other stakeholders as he develops a detailed manifesto”.

“I want to make FIFA a first-class organisation that is worthy of a sport that unites billions of people around the globe and is rightly declared the world’s game. FIFA should function to promote football and work in a real partnership to support all national associations in their mission to develop the game — we must get back to focusing on those goals,” Prince Ali said recently.

Majali said that Prince Ali’s candidacy announcement came as a “surprise” and stakeholders took some time to start reacting to his campaign, especially during the visits he paid to a number of countries to share his vision.

Guests of a talk show on BBC Arabic aired Wednesday agreed that the image of Prince Ali that emerged during his campaign is that of a man who wants a positive change and a corruption-free FIFA. 

This has earned the prince significant support, particularly by the UEFA, represented by its president, Michel Platini, according to Majali. 

Reuters quoted Platini as saying: “I have the deep conviction that [Prince] Ali, who I have known personally for years, could be a great president for FIFA.”

Mike Collett, football editor at Thomson Reuters, told The Jordan Times via e-mail that what attracted his attention about Prince Ali’s manifesto was the fact he has highlighted the key reforms needed in FIFA.

Keir Radnedge, chairman of the Football Commission at the France-based International Sports Press Association, echoed Collett’s remarks, also via e-mail, highlighting the prince’s focus on transparency and governance, “which FIFA needs badly”.

Head of the sports department at Al Ghad daily, Taiseer Omeiri, agreed on the need to develop football across the world and the importance of supporting local federations that are undergoing financial hardships, two goals Prince Ali set in his manifesto.  

The withdrawal of Dutch candidate Michael van Praag and the former Portugal forward Luis Figo is another reason that might play in the hands of Prince Ali, the analysts agreed. 

“I think…  he [Prince Ali] will pick up the votes they might have got,” Collett added.

Omeiri expected that “the entire European continent has a consensus on the prince now”.  

Radnedge disagreed “because their support came only from European associations which will switch to Prince Ali so the ‘real’ balance of opposition to Blatter remains effectively the same.” 

Omeiri noted that the prince is facing an experienced and well-entrenched person who has been in FIFA for 40 years.

“It is not an easy task to defeat him,” he said, despite the fact that the federation has been moving from one crisis to another   since 1998, when Blatter was first elected president.

Collett said Prince Ali will need a lot of delegates to change their minds and their votes if he is to win as many have already committed to Blatter. 

“If Asia was solidly behind Prince Ali, that would help him, but Africa holds the key with 54 votes for Blatter,” he added.  

In Radnedge’s opinion, the weight of African and Asian votes will be decisive in favour of Blatter.

Collett said the winning of Prince Ali would make a huge difference to Asian football. 

“A new broom! A new era for FIFA,” he said.