Jérôme Champagne withdraws from Fifa presidential race
• Frenchman fails to get five nominations required
• Luís Figo, Prince Ali and Van Praag remain in fight
• Owen Gibson: Sepp Blatter still odds-on Fifa favourite
Jérôme Champagne blamed unnamed 'institutions' for undermining his support.
Jérôme Champagne has announced he has withdrawn his Fifa presidential candidacy after failing to secure the minimum five nominations required.
The Frenchman announced his withdrawal in a letter to national associations where he blamed Uefa and “institutions” mobilising to eliminate him.
He said he had secured three nominations but that other associations feared reprisals if they backed him.
It means the Fifa president Sepp Blatter will face challenges from Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein of Jordan, the Dutch Football Association president Michael van Praag and former Portugal international Luís Figo. All three of the challengers are campaigning on a reforming programme with support from Uefa.
Champagne said in his letter: “I regret to have to announce that I have not presented the five sponsorship letters needed to be registered as a candidate in the election of 29 May.
“I warmly thank the three federations that have endorsed me and the many presidents who explained with candour and friendship, that they could not do it despite their interest in my programme.
“The reasons were numerous. Because they feared reprisals from their confederations having issued ‘recommendations’. Because their federations were candidates to host continental competitions. Because they relied too heavily on the financial support. Because they were committed to defend a united continental front.”
Champagne is a former Fifa deputy general secretary and has been a fierce critic of Uefa. He added in his letter: “The institutions have mobilised to eliminate the only independent candidate.
“The latest events orchestrated in secret with barely veiled intentions by one of them, distributing letters of support between candidates, made me lose sponsorships especially in Europe!
“The hidden agenda - or not so hidden after all - is clear: under the guise of reforming Fifa lies the objective of further weakening it in favour of continental structures. This at a time when a strong governance of football, with regulatory and redistributive powers, is needed more than ever. It constitutes the perennial vision of UefA since 1998!
“It is also to pave the road for the wealthy actors of the West European football to get their hands on the last thing they do not control yet: Fifa and the world government of football.”
Guardian
