Michael van Praag withdraws from the Fifa presidential election campaign
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Version 0 of 1. Michael van Praag has confirmed he has withdrawn from the Fifa presidential election campaign, switching his support to Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan in an attempt to help usurp Sepp Blatter in the 29 May election. A statement from Van Praag’s office said: “After thorough deliberation and reflection with different involved parties and stakeholders, Michael van Praag decided to withdraw his candidacy to become the next Fifa president and to join forces with presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein.” Related: Michael van Praag poised to stand down as Fifa presidential candidate The Dutch FA president said he will further explain his decision at a news conference later on Thursday, which leaves Prince Ali and the former Portugal international Luís Figo as the two remaining challengers to Blatter. Figo may consider also withdrawing in favour of Prince Ali. Blatter is strongly favoured to extend his 17-year reign with a fifth term when the 209 national federations vote next week and the 79-year-old has support from most voters in five of Fifa’s six continental confederations. Only Uefa is formally opposing Blatter and had supported Van Praag, Figo and Prince Al when they were declared as candidates in January. Although Van Praag is a member of the Uefa executive committee, he has appeared to be the most independent of the three challengers. He pledged to serve a single four-year term to modernise Fifa and improve transparency, and has offered Blatter an advisory role heading a charitable foundation. Outside Europe, Van Praag has gained one pledge of support from the former Dutch territory of Suriname. |