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Prince Ali bin Al
Hussein is currently FIFA vice president for Asia. — AFP Photo
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FIFA presidential candidate Prince
Ali Bin Al Hussein has called for an end to the 'culture of intimidation'
within the world football governing body and has claimed that if he was the
president he would take responsibility for the actions that have taken place.
The Jordanian FA president is one of
three challengers to current FIFA president Sepp Blatter for the 29 May
election.
Ali said that FIFA has discouraged
dissent and debate under Blatter's 17-year tenure as president. He claimed that
in the past people have taken a principled stand and they have ended up being
punished for it, the BBC reports.
He said that he hopes things are
played fairly and in the right way now.
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List
of FIFA Presidential Hopefuls (Image source: BBC)
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FIFA has suffered a number of
damaging corruption allegations during Blatter's period as president, with
ethics investigator Michael Garcia resigning in December in protest at FIFA's
handling of his report into bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar.
Ali, who is also vice-president of
the Asian Football Confederation and head of the West Asian Football
Federation, said that FIFA needs to accept that the corruption allegations have
damaged the organization's standing.
Ali said that everybody realizes
that they need to improve the reputation of FIFA, adding that one needs to work
from the bottom up, and needs to have a president who serves the sport.
Ali said that if he was president,
he would take responsibility for the actions that have taken place, and would
do that hopefully in the future.
Ali, who has been on the FIFA executive
committee for four years, added that he would resign if Blatter is re-elected,
insisting that he couldn't see himself being on the executive for the next four
years, given the circumstances that are.
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