Luis Figo expects some African federations to back his FIFA
presidency bid, despite claims the entire continent will support
incumbent, Sepp Blatter. Confederation of African Football (CAF) Issa Hayatou said earlier
this week [that] all 54 of its members would vote for Blatter’s fifth
term. But Figo says he has received private assurances from individual
federations that they will support him come May 29.
“I feel there’s a lot of respect for CAF among all the African federations, but I’m positive that Mr Hayatou did not speak in the name of the 54 members of the confederation,” the former Portugal captain said.
“Even when he (Hayatou) announced [that] he would support Blatter, we could notice a difference from past congresses when a statement like that normally is followed by a standing ovation.
“This time we heard just a normal applause, which confirms my idea that a lot of African countries understand and agree with the need to change for the better of everyone, especially the national associations.
“In fact, there were federation presidents who assured me [that] they would vote for me but they were reluctant to say this out loud, because they feared reactions against them, their federations and even their countries.
“It is also to end this kind of atmosphere that I decided to be a candidate. Football should be about a beautiful game and people should be able to express themselves freely and openly.”
Figo is one of three rival candidates opposing Blatter next month: Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan and the Dutch football association president Michael van Praag are the others.
“I feel there’s a lot of respect for CAF among all the African federations, but I’m positive that Mr Hayatou did not speak in the name of the 54 members of the confederation,” the former Portugal captain said.
“Even when he (Hayatou) announced [that] he would support Blatter, we could notice a difference from past congresses when a statement like that normally is followed by a standing ovation.
“This time we heard just a normal applause, which confirms my idea that a lot of African countries understand and agree with the need to change for the better of everyone, especially the national associations.
“In fact, there were federation presidents who assured me [that] they would vote for me but they were reluctant to say this out loud, because they feared reactions against them, their federations and even their countries.
“It is also to end this kind of atmosphere that I decided to be a candidate. Football should be about a beautiful game and people should be able to express themselves freely and openly.”
Figo is one of three rival candidates opposing Blatter next month: Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan and the Dutch football association president Michael van Praag are the others.
No comments:
Post a Comment