Bin Hammam weighing up European support
Reuters - Friday 11 March 2011, 08:32
LONDON - Asia's football chief Mohamed Bin
Hammam will canvass support in Europe before deciding whether to
launch a bid to topple Sepp Blatter as FIFA president, the
Qatari said on Friday.
The 61-year-old president of the Asian Football
Confederation has hinted for months he will fight powerful Swiss
incumbent Blatter for soccer's top job at the FIFA Congress in
Zurich on May 31 and June 1 and confirmed on Friday he will make
a decision before the UEFA Congress in Paris on March 20.
By then, he says he will know if he has enough support from
European countries to mount a realistic bid for the presidency.
"I am happy with most confederations, but I don't know about
Europe and how they will deal with my candidacy," he said in a
verified message sent to his Twitter and online accounts.
"Europe is the core of football. I would like now to make a
real assessment in Europe. I will go to the Paris Congress of
UEFA (on March 20) and I will already have declared my candidacy
or otherwise."
The deadline for declaring his intentions is March 31, so he
could canvas opinion among the chairmen of UEFA's 53 member
nations in Paris and still have time to declare his candidacy
after the Congress.
Bin Hammam's comments came after the English FA attempted to
distance itself from comments made last week by two senior
officials that the FA would back any credible candidate willing
to stand against Blatter in June.
Those comments were made to reporters at last week's
International Football Association Board Meeting (IFAB) in
Newport, Wales, but the FA contacted FIFA this week to clarify
its position.
The FA said in an email to FIFA's general secretary Jerome
Valcke that this was not the case, emphasising that the matter
had not been discussed by the FA's board.
Earlier Bin Hammam said he was encouraged by reports of the
FA's stance, saying on his Twitter account: "The FA declaration
is very encouraging. Now people expect me to say something."
Previously Bin Hammam has hinted that if he thought he
lacked enough support to unseat Blatter, he would support UEFA
president Michel Platini or any other candidate - although
Blatter so far is the only declared runner.
Earlier this week Bin Hammam said: "Within 10 days I will
formally declare whether I will stand or not.
"I would 100 percent support someone else. I have not spoken
to Michel Platini for a long time but I told him that if he runs
he'd have my full support. That remains the case."