KUALA LUMPUR — Asia's football chief Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa called for the region to unify behind one candidate in next year's FIFA presidential election and stopped short of endorsing UEFA president Michel Platini for the job Thursday. Former France skipper Platini ended weeks of uncertainty Wednesday when he announced that he would stand for the post with the mission of restoring “dignity” to soccer's world government in the wake of a major corruption scandal. South Korean Chung Mong-joon, a major power broker in Asian football, announced that he would also be joining the race soon after the Asian Football Confederation released their statement. Asia was a bedrock of support for outgoing president Sepp Blatter, who decided to stand down amid the worst crisis in FIFA's history, and the number of votes from the region will make it highly influential in next February's election. “We have of course noted Michel Platini's decision to stand, and he is certainly a unique candidate who would bring stability and a smooth transition to normality for FIFA in this difficult situation,” the AFC president said in a media release. “Yet we should also remember that the FIFA president is only one part of FIFA, which is why it is so important to get the reforms right as well. “Everybody accepts the need for change in FIFA, and in addition to changing the president much of the rest of FIFA's organization and the way it functions need to be modernized as well. “FIFA also needs someone who can take the best of the past, fuse it with new ideas, and so take the organisation into the future.” Jordanian Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, who lost to Blatter in the first round of last May's presidential ballot before withdrawing, said Wednesday that Platini's candidature would not be good for FIFA. Prince Ali, who is yet to announce whether he intends to run again, said FIFA needed new, independent leadership “untainted by the practices of the past” in order for proper reform to take place. An AFC statement echoed his call for a “new FIFA and a new FIFA president,” even if the fact that Prince Ali did not have the backing of his home confederation when he took on Blatter last year indicates that Asia is unlikely to vote as a bloc. “FIFA is in a very difficult position right now. In order to stabilize it needs leadership, experience and new ideas, but above all it needs football to be placed at its heart,” Sheikh Salman added. “Hopefully a new president can bring many of these things, which is why it is so important for Asia to remain as united as possible behind the single best candidate for football, regardless of where they are from.” New FIFA president will not end problems — Bach FIFA's problems will not end with the election of a new president as football's scandal-tainted world body needs drastic reform, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said Thursday. Bach would not comment on the announcement by UEFA leader Michel Platini Wednesday that he was a candidate to take Sepp Blatter's place as FIFA president when an election is held next February. But he said in an interview that all candidates had to embrace “transparency.” “That applies to each candidate. It applies particularly because FIFA's problems will not be over with the election of a new president. “There must be reforms to the FIFA structure, transparency must be improved, the other structures must be transformed. The election of a president alone will not be enough.” The IOC chief pointedly avoided involvement in the looming FIFA election battle however. “I am not going to make a comment on the election of federation president. It is not for me to judge,” he said. FIFA was rocked by the arrest of seven football officials accused of taking bribes on the eve of its Congress on May 27. Bach spoke at the first day of the congress and called for reforms. The following day Blatter was reelected to a fifth term as president but within four days he had announced that he would stand down. The seven FIFA officials are among 14 people charged by US authorities of involvement in more than $150 million of bribes for football marketing contracts. — Agencies
