Chris Maduewesi
Member
Former World footballer of the year Luis Figo has become the latest candidate to declare his intentions to contest for the FIFA presidency.
The former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan player made the announcement on Wednesday that he will be contesting for football's top job, challenging incumbent president Sepp Blatter.
While speaking on CNN's world sport, the Portuguese insisted that he has the prerequisites to vie for the position.
"I have 5 letters of support from national teams [federations] so I am a real candidate" he said.
"I care about football, so what I'm seeing regarding the image of FIFA -- not only now but in the past years -- I don't like it.
"If you search FIFA on the internet, you see the first word that comes out: 'scandal.' Not positive words. It's that we have to change first and try to improve the image of FIFA. Football deserves much better than this.
"I've been talking with so many important people in football -- players, managers, president of federations -- and they all think that something has to be done.
"Last year was the World Cup, I was in Brazil and I saw the reaction of all the fans regarding the image of FIFA and I think something has to be changed.
"Change in leadership, governance, transparency and solidarity, so I think it's the moment for that."
Figo joins former FIFA executive Jerome Champagne, Jordanian FA president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein as candidates for the next elections.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
The former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan player made the announcement on Wednesday that he will be contesting for football's top job, challenging incumbent president Sepp Blatter.
While speaking on CNN's world sport, the Portuguese insisted that he has the prerequisites to vie for the position.
"I have 5 letters of support from national teams [federations] so I am a real candidate" he said.
"I care about football, so what I'm seeing regarding the image of FIFA -- not only now but in the past years -- I don't like it.
"If you search FIFA on the internet, you see the first word that comes out: 'scandal.' Not positive words. It's that we have to change first and try to improve the image of FIFA. Football deserves much better than this.
"I've been talking with so many important people in football -- players, managers, president of federations -- and they all think that something has to be done.
"Last year was the World Cup, I was in Brazil and I saw the reaction of all the fans regarding the image of FIFA and I think something has to be changed.
"Change in leadership, governance, transparency and solidarity, so I think it's the moment for that."
Figo joins former FIFA executive Jerome Champagne, Jordanian FA president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein as candidates for the next elections.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia