Jordanians take to Twitter to support Prince Ali’s FIFA bid

AMMAN — With the approach of the May 29 FIFA presidential elections, Jordanians have taken to social media to support HRH Prince Ali’s bid.

Prince Ali, FIFA vice president for Asia and president of the Jordan Football Association, is one of three candidates challenging incumbent president Sepp Blatter, who is seeking re-election for a fifth four-year term. 

The other candidates are Dutch FA head Michael van Praag and former Portugal international Luis Figo.

The Arabic hashtag “the Nashmi is up to it” and #Aliforfifa are the most popular hashtags being tweeted by Jordanian and other social media users to express their support for Prince Ali.

#Aliforfifia was included in 4,000 tweets in less than 24 hours, according to BBC trending. 

Around 83.4 per cent of the tweets are from Jordan, 9 per cent from other countries, 5.4 per cent from the US and 2.2 per cent from Canada, BBC trending showed. 

Social media users posted tweets in solidarity with Prince Ali and others shared photos and articles about his FIFA presidential bid and phrases from his campaign slogans. 

Her Majesty Queen Rania (@QueenRania) was among the first to express her support for Prince Ali using #Aliforfifa, encouraging others to join forces in supporting the FIFA presidential candidate. 

“Join me in supporting Prince @AliBinAlHussein and his vision #AliForFIFA,” the Queen tweeted.  

Hanin Abu-shamat (@HaninSh) said children who are into football need someone like Prince Ali in charge of the sport’s international governing body. 

“The future of the game calls for a man like him! #AliForFIFA,” she tweeted.   

Dana Al Basha @DanaAlBasha) said Prince Ali deserves to be the next FIFA president.   

“I truly wish that our beloved Prince Ali [will] be the next FIFA president. #AliForFifa He [deserves] it more than anyone else,” she wrote.

Using the hashtag “the Nashmi is up to it”, Serena AbuDayyeh (@Dr_SerenaAD) expressed her support for the prince. 

“Our prince, we are all with you,” she tweeted in Arabic. 

Omar Sende ‏(@omarsende) said “it is time for a change.”

Earlier this month, the prince unveiled his manifesto, outlining his vision for FIFA should he win the presidency.

“I envisage targeted development programmes stimulating unprecedented growth and improvement in football around the world. I see improvements in global football feeding positive growth in top level competition,” he said in the document.

“I see growth in top level competition driving significant increases in commercial revenues. And I see increased commercial  success as the engine room that will  power more and better development  programmes,” the prince added.