LONDON: Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan said it was time for the “culture of intimidation” in FIFA to end when he launched his campaign on Tuesday for the presidency of world football’s ruling body.

He also called for a public debate among the four candidates in the race including incumbent Sepp Blatter “to set out our positions and for people to know exactly where we stand.”

Prince Ali, 39, FIFA’s Asian vice-president for the last four years and a member of the ruling body’s executive committee, said he “could not sit through” another four years in the current circumstances.

“There has been a culture of intimidation within FIFA,” he told a news conference. “In the past people have taken a principled stand and they have ended up being punished for it. I hope things are played fairly and in the right way now.

“That’s why obviously the vote is secret and I hope that if things are played fairly and played rightly, things will go in the appropriate way.

“Obviously, the incumbent has a natural advantage but I want to assure the national associations we are moving in the right direction.”

As well as Prince Ali and Blatter, the other contenders are former Portugal international Luis Figo and Michael van Praag, the president of the Dutch FA.

The Jordanian revealed that he had received nominations from his home federation, Belarus, Malta, England, Jordan, the United States and Georgia, adding that the fact that his own Asian confederation was not fully behind his campaign was not a hindrance at this stage.

“This is a candidacy for the whole world. I do know also that there are confederations who have their own elections coming up in the next couple of months,” said the Prince who has campaigned for reform since being elected in 2011.

“But I do believe that hopefully we will get as many votes as possible from around the world. This is a world issue and not just one of confederations.

“It’s a long campaign now until May 29 so I don’t think anyone should be written off. I don’t think anyone has a stranglehold on any confederation.”

Published in Dawn February 4th , 2015

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