Platini and 4 other likely replacements for Blatter

Following Sepp Blatter’s announcement of his decision to step down as FIFA president, the searchlight is on for a worthy successor for the septuagenarian, who would be elected at the next extraordinary congress of the federation to be convened “as soon as possible”.

Here are five leading candidates for the much-revered office and one man who would definitely have no place at the apex of football administration in the world.

MICHEL PLATINI

Platini, currently the UEFA president, is seen by pundits as the most viable choice to take over from Blatter, following his open opposition of Blatter’s fifth term bid, which came alive on Friday.

Speaking before the election, Platini had said Blatter’s re-election would mean a lack of credibility for IFA.

“While he remains in place, whether he likes it or not, and whether it is fair or not, FIFA will lack credibility and its image will be tarnished, and so it will lack authority,” Platini told French newspaper L’Equipe.

“Moreover, it will be football that suffers. I would never attack (Blatter), but after a while you cannot simply hold on to the throne at any cost.”

Like Blatter, Platini is considered old, but he is 20 years younger, making his age less of a factor to hinder him from attaining the position.

His experience would count. As a player, the ex-French international won three straight Ballon d’Or awards. As a coach, he led France impressively from 1988-1992 and has been on his UEFA job since 2007.

PRINCE ALI BIN AL-HUSSEIN

Age seems magical at FIFA. Blatter is 20 years younger than Platini; while Al-Hussein, in turn, is 20 years younger than Platini. Yet “young” Ali was courageous enough to be the only one to stand against Blatter at the just-concluded FIFA election.

Though Ali eventually withdrew after he lost to Blatter by 133:73 in the first round of the election, the Jordanian prince was the definition of “change” at FIFA.

Ali serves as the FIFA Vice President for Asia, and he is credited to have called for the publication of the Garcia Report, which outlined corruption allegations in the recently awarded 2018 and 2022 World Cup.

Ali has been riding on an anti-corruption mantra, and that may be all FIFA need at a time as this, when the world is calling for a “cleansing” of the football federation.

His manifesto was hinged on a four-year term, working with national associations and the confederations to reform FIFA and to collaboratively produce a 10-year plan to take the federation – and football – successfully into the future.

Ali announced that US Soccer had nominated him for president, the English FA had also announced they were backing him, and he received additional support from Belarus, Malta, Georgia and Australia. Support certainly awaits Ali in the nearest future.

LUIS FIGO

Luis Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo, 2001 Fifa world player of the year, is also in contention as one of the likeliest persons to take over the helm from Blatter.

Though considered a pretender, the 43-year-old ex-Portuguese international cannot be overlooked. He declared his interest to run for FIFA presidency following his displeasure with the situation in the world football body.

“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,” he told CNN.

“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.”

Having played at Sporting CP, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan, Figo has the anointing of numerous players and managers to lead FIFA. In his manifesto, he proposed a 48-team World Cup to ensure participation of more non-European countries.

He eventually pulled out from the race, saying the electoral process was flawed.

“This process is a plebiscite for the delivery of absolute power to one man – something I refuse to go along with,” he had said.

MICHAEL VAN PRAAG

Praag, a Dutch sports director, former chairman of Ajax Amsterdam and current chairman of the Royal Dutch Football Association, is also one of those clamouring for change at FIFA.

While expressing his intention to run for FIFA presidency in January, Praag said: “I’m very worried about the deteriorating situation at FIFA. The public opinion, the trustworthiness, is very bad, and with me a lot of people in the world believe so.”

Born into the footballing family of Jaap Van Praag, he and his father are the only father and son chairmen combination to have led their club to continental success with Ajax, winning a combined four European championships under their guidance.

He eventually withdrew from running for presidency.

“After thorough deliberation and reflection with different involved parties and stakeholders, Michael van Praag decided to withdraw his candidacy to become the next FIFA president and to join forces with presidential candidate Prince Ali Al Hussein,” the member of the Executive Committee of UEFA said.

DAVID GINOLA

Hours after Blatter shocked the world with his resignation news, Ginola declared that he would be contesting in the election, which are to hold before the end of 2015 or early in 2016.

Ginola is a 48-year-old ex-France international, actor and model, who initially threw his hat in the ring for last week’s election before bowing out.

He withdrew from the race after failing to secure the backing of five football associations, a requirement for standing in the election to head football’s world governing body.

He had launched a crowdfunding platform to run his campaign, and got N75m from a betting firm. When he withdrew, the crowdfunding platform said it would return all funds received.

“By joining Team Ginola you are saying ‘yes’ to a FIFA built on democracy, transparency and equality. You are saying ‘yes’ to a FIFA which cares about one thing – football,” Ginola said while campaigning.

A widely travelled footballer, Ginola played for Toulon (1985–88), RC Paris (1988–90), Brest (1990–92), Paris Saint-Germain (1992–95), Newcastle United (1995–97), Tottenham Hotspur (1997–2000), Aston Villa (2000–2002) and Everton (2002). This may be a plus for him.