MANAMA, Bahrain — Bahrain’s Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa is going for simplicity and fan-appeal with headline pledges to transform a discredited FIFA: Relinquish much of the power Sepp Blatter built up over 17 years at FIFA and take no salary.
Salman was a late, seemingly reluctant candidate to lead FIFA’s recovery from a corruption crisis that is likely to see fresh revelations of wrongdoing emerging long after election day in February.
“I don’t want too much power with the president — the power has to be shared,” Salman said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I believe in doing things in a different way, not being centralized where the president has to do every detail in running the business.”
That means taking no money for being the face of FIFA.
“I don’t want to be an executive president,” he said. “And if I’m not an executive president I don’t see how I do deserve to be paid.”
Rather than a bitter election fight until Feb. 26, Salman hopes there is a smooth succession, with the five candidates currently vying to run football whittled down before election day.
“I’d like to see most of the continents agreeing on a single candidate but we have to work for this in the next few weeks,” Salman said during an hour-long interview in the Bahraini capital Manama.
Had it not been for Michel Platini injudiciously claiming 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million) from FIFA four years ago, this Manchester United-supporting member of Bahrain’s royal family would not now be a front-runner to become the first Arab leader of FIFA.
Platini is out of contention while awaiting the full verdict from FIFA’s ethics judge which could result in a long ban for the former France captain.
“I think damage has been done,” Shaikh Salman said. “But he has the right as well to defend himself. We cannot judge.”
Despite complaints against his candidacy from rights groups, Salman was last week approved as a candidate by FIFA’s election watchdog alongside four other men: Prince Ali, UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino, former FIFA official Jerome Champagne and apartheid-era former Robben Island prisoner Tokyo Sexwale.
How many names are on the ballot paper in Zurich in February could depend on whether Platini defies expectations and is cleared before election day.
“If he comes back and he still wants to run, I think we would have to sit together ... and assess the situation,” Shaikh Salman said. “I am sure there will be an agreement. At the end of the day we all need to support each other ... (and) come with a compromise to hopefully have a good solution for everybody.”
Whether that agreement could include the 49-year-old Salman quitting the campaign is unclear.
A Salman presidency would look very different from Blatter’s reign, potentially blander in terms of public statements. Expect fewer rash pronouncements on changes to the game and awkward asides in speeches.
Salman is yet to produce his manifesto, but said he would consult the confederations before emulating Infantino and pledging to expand the World Cup by eight teams to 40. Discussing whether the use of technology should be expanded beyond ruling on disputed goals, he said: “The simple it is the better it is.” — AP
