Football

Home page

Football

AFC President Bin Hammam Calls For Change At FIFA

24 January 2011 20:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed bin Hammam says it is time for a change at football’s world governing body, but did not commit to opposing incumbent FIFA president Sepp Blatter in elections later this year, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.

The 61-year-old Qatari said Monday that he has been asked to run against Blatter in this June’s elections but has not yet decided if he will do so. Blatter, who is 74, has already announced his intention to run for a fourth four-year term. No other candidates have announced plans to run against him.

Bin Hammam says he believes that Blatter’s longevity at FIFA has contributed to the perception that the football governing body is corrupt. The AFC president says change is needed at FIFA because regardless of how clean, honest or correct you are, the longer a person is in power the more difficult it becomes to defend yourself against corruption allegations.

Bin Hammam’s comments come less than two months after Russia was named the host of the 2018 World Cup and Qatar won the bid for the 2022 tournament in a scandal-filled voting process. Two members of FIFA’s 24-man executive committee were suspended before the vote for ethics violations.