Prince Ali: Blatter’s FIFA resignation the ‘right move’

AMMAN/ZURICH — HRH Prince Ali said Tuesday that Sepp Blatter's resignation as FIFA's president was "the right move”, stopping short of saying whether he would re-run new election at the global football organisation.

Prince Ali made the comments to CNN on Tuesday night, just after Blatter announced in Zurich his resignation from football’s governing body amid a widening corruption scandal.

He said: "I think that it is the right move from Sepp Blatter and I think we have to look to the future."

Prince Ali declined to say if he'd run again, according to The Associated Press. He said: "I am at the disposal of all the national associations who want a change, including all of those who were afraid to make a change."

Prince Ali ran against the 79-year-old Blatter in an election Friday. A first vote saw the prince lose 73-133 and he withdrew before the second round started.

Meanwhile, Jordan Football Association Vice President Salah Sabra on Tuesday said that Prince Ali is capable of leading FIFA after Blatter stepped down, citing the “experience and respect he enjoys in the international football arena”, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Jordanians received the news of Blatter’s resignation with jubilation, calling on the prince on social media to go for the post anew.

Blatter, 79, announced the decision at a hastily arranged news conference in Zurich, six days after the FBI raided a hotel in Zurich and arrested several FIFA officials and just four days after he was re-elected to a fifth term as president.

Blatter said an election to choose a new president for the deeply troubled organisation would be held as soon as possible. A FIFA official said that could happen any time from December this year to March of next year.

“FIFA needs profound restructuring,” said Blatter, a Swiss national who has been a dominating presence at FIFA for decades.

In a related development, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday visited Prince Ali at Beit Al Baraka.

At the meeting, the “two sides stressed the solid Jordanian-Palestinian ties and the commitment of the Jordanian and the Palestinian leaderships to boosting their ties in a manner that serves their brotherly relations,” Petra reported.

Following the meeting, Prince Ali told Petra that relations with Palestine have always been strong and will always be, adding that the Palestinians and Jordanians are “brothers and supportive of each other”.

Abbas echoed similar remarks saying that Jordanians and Palestinians will always be “one people in two states and nothing, whatsoever, can undermine these relations”.

The meeting came one day after authorities told President of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) Jibreel Rjoub he was persona non grata, banning him from entering Jordan, in an apparent response to the official’s behaviour during FIFA elections. PFA reportedly supported Blatter, although Rjoub insisted that he voted for the prince.

However, it was the manner the official celebrated the win of Blatter that angered Jordanians. Extremist voices on social media demanded that Jordan stop all support for Palestinians.

Upon his return home, Prince Ali told Jordan TV that Jordan and its Hashemite leaders would not speak spitefully against any party regarding their stand on Jordan, stressing that what happened would never affect the fraternal ties between Jordanians and Palestinians.