Jerome ChampagneFIFA president Sepp Blatter’s former right-hand man Jerome Cham-pagne is set to launch a bid to succeed his ex-boss as the most powerful man in world soccer after inviting the media to a news con-ference in London on Monday.
Although the 55-year-old French-man refused to confirm that the event was to announce his bid, sources in Switzerland, where FIFA is based, left little doubt.
Blatter, 78 in March, has hinted he might stand again in next year’s elections, while UEFA president Michel Platini has also been widely tipped to challenge, though the Frenchman has repeatedly refused to declare his position.
Champagne, FIFA’s deputy secretary general from 2002 until 2005, has been working as an international soccer consultant in troubled regions such as Kosovo, Palestine and Israel, and Cyprus since leaving the organisation in 2010.
He sent an email to the world’s media yesterday inviting them to a news conference, but would not elaborate on his plans.
“I cannot stop the speculation because there has been specu-lation about me for the last two years since I published my docu-ment regarding the future of FIFA and the globalisation of the game,” Champagne told Reuters.
“It is a free world and you cannot stop people having an opinion but I do not wish to say more until I speak in London on Monday.”
A FIFA spokesman said the governing body had no comment to make on the issue.
In 2012 Champagne’s 20,000-word “What FIFA for the 21st century?” document outlined some far-sighted views, while building on FIFA’s traditional strengths.
Central to his thinking are plans to expand the FIFA executive committee, bringing national FA’s into the seat of governance and making FIFA more open and transparent.
In a previous interview with Reuters, Champagne said: “The election in 2015 is absolutely crucial for the future of the world game and will shape football for many years to come.
“We have to embrace new ideas and develop others like technology, we have to embrace the changes in the modern world, both in the way football is governed and how we redress the imbalances that have crept into the game.
“I may not have all the answers but at least I can open up the debate.”
Blatter has been president since 1998 and was close to Champagne during his time at FIFA.
Blatter has not yet confirmed whether he is standing for a fifth term of office when the elections are held in Zurich in 18 months’ time.
However, he hinted this week that he did intend to stand and was not yet “too tired” to continue in one of the biggest jobs in world sport.
FIFA, comprising 209 member nations, more than the United Nations, organises the world’s most popular sport but under Blatter’s long presidency has suffered a series of crises focused around financial scandals and mismanagement.
Champagne was at FIFA during many of Blatter’s woes but was forced out of the organisation after political infighting six months before the World Cup started in South Africa in 2010.
Blatter, who has won three election campaigns and also been acclaimed as president without any opposition once, is only the eighth president in the organisation’s 110-year history.