Agence France Presse
Paris, August 17: South Korean billionaire Chung Mong-Joon launched his formal campaign for the FIFA presidency Monday with a blistering attack on outgoing leader Sepp Blatter and a vow to fix the scandal-tainted world football body in four years.
“Today FIFA is undergoing a profound crisis. Under these circumstances, the FIFA president must be a crisis manager and a reformer,” Chung told at a press conference in Paris.
“The real reason FIFA has become such a corrupt organization is because the same person (Blatter) has been running it for 40 years,” he added.
Chung, a member of the family that owns the various arms of the Hyundai conglomerate, vowed that if successful in an election to be held in February he would serve just one term.
“I can change FIFA in four years. That is my pledge to football fans in the world. After decades of ever-widening circles of corruption, FIFA needs a leader who can bring back common sense, transparency and accountability,” said Chung.
UEFA president Michel Platini is considered as the frontrunner for the president’s post and has already secured public support from key national federations and regional confederations. But Chung said the Frenchman should not be a candidate because he was so close to the FIFA system and a former close ally of Blatter.
“This is not a good situation for Michel and I think it is good for him not to be a candidate this time. He is still very young,” said Chung.
The South Korean football official also said it was time for the FIFA presidency to move away from Europe. All the presidents have so far come from Europe or Brazil.
Investigation on cards
Zurich: FIFA confirmed Monday that it will investigate the alleged distribution from their headquarters of an anonymous heavily critical ‘dossier’ on UEFA president Michel Platini following a complaint from UEFA. “FIFA has received a letter from UEFA regarding the said subject. FIFA will be investigating the matter,” stated a FIFA statement.
