Zurich, May 29 (IANS) Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) president Michel Platini hopes that FIFA boss Sepp Blatter loses the upcoming presidential elections.
Platini said here that he thinks Blatter may be defeated in his bid for a fifth presidential term, and though he did not think it was possible before recent scandals, now “too much is too much”, reports Efe.
The UEFA president was referring to Wednesday when several former and current senior FIFA officials were arrested on charges of corruption as part of two parallel investigations, one requested by United States authorities and another by Switzerland.
“Enough is enough. I am the first one to be disgusted by this,” he confessed.
In this situation, which he defined as unfortunate, Platini believes that it is plausible that at Friday’s 65th FIFA Congress delegates would overwhelmingly vote against Blatter and support his only challenger Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan.
Platini made it clear he wants Blatter to leave, and to do so, he devised two strategies — asking him to resign and calling on delegates to vote against him.
At a meeting held on Thursday with the presidents of the six regional confederations of FIFA, Platini openly asked Blatter to resign while the latter publicly ruled out the option.
“I asked him to resign (saying): ‘enough is enough, Sepp’. He listened to me but he told me it is too late,” Platini recounted.
Platini said that some 45 or 46 of the 53 European associations will vote for Ali but he would continue trying to convince the rest as well as others throughout the world. The UEFA president justified his position by arguing that FIFA’s image would be seriously damaged if Blatter were re-elected and he could not comprehend how Blatter would continue to lead world of football.