Luis Figo bids for FIFA Presidency

The former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Portuguese player announced that he is running for the Presidency for FIFA against the current president Sepp Blatter.

Luis Figo has given a lot to the Football world. He has played for the Portugal national team 127 times in World Cup in 2002 and 2006, he has played for teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid and has been voted the Player of the Year twice.

If that’s not all, he has also worked for Inter Milan and Portuguese team after retirement. For a person whose whole life, 20 years worth, have been spent with football; Figo seems to be getting worried where FIFA has been going for the past few years.

He has witnessed that FIFA name has been associated with scandal for too long. He says that if you type in FIFA, the first word that comes up is scandal and that is not he would like to see the institute of the sport he has been attached to for so long. 

He said that when he went to Brazil for the world cup, he was worried to see the notions and feelings of people towards FIFA and that made him realize that something has to change. There has to be change in “leadership, governance, transparency and solidarity” and he also said that it was the moment for that.

I’m delighted to announce my candidacy for the FIFA Presidency. Football has given me so much during my life & I want to give something back— Luís Figo (@LuisFigo) January 28, 2015

In an official interview with CNN, he said that he has been talking with a lot of important people including players, managers, president of federations and they all agree that its time for change and it is time that instead of talking about it, there should be action to do it.

He announced that he will be running for the presidency in that same interview and also posted his decision on Twitter as; “I’m delighted to announce my candidacy for the FIFA Presidency. Football has given me so much during my life & I want to give something back”

He will be running against the current president, the 78 years old Sepp Blatter who changed his decision recently to run again for the position. He had announced it to be his last tenure after his long service since 1988 but changed his mind. He enjoys popular support on the basis of his long years as president.

The other candidates are former Paris Saint-Germain star David Ginola, independent candidate Jerome Champagne, Asian Football Confederation vice-president Prince Ali and Michael van Praag, the head of Dutch football. Figo candidacy was affirmed with the support of five officials that is a requirement for the running and his work for Inter Milan and Portuguese team also fulfills the requirements to work at least two years for FIFA.

After being asked what set his mind to finally run for the position. He said that it was a report on the bid for World Cup which was given to Qatar. There was financial foul play indicated in a report that FIFA did not allow to publish. The decision to not publish the report made him change his mind about running for the presidency. He is up against a lot of big guns who are financially stable and enjoy a lot of support but his intentions are truthful and football fans are rooting for the 42 years old former player to become the new president.