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The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) chief Mohamed Bin Hammam has withdrawn his candidacy from the upcoming FIFA presidential elections.
The elections were due to be held on Wednesday June 1 and Bin Hammam was the prime challenger to current FIFA President Sepp Blatter, but in the wake of the corruption scandal, the AFC supremo has dramatically pulled out of the race to succeed Blatter.
Bin Hammam is due to stand before Fifa’s ethics committee on Sunday amid serious allegations of bribery and corruption as the reputation of FIFA continues to plummet.
In relation to the recent World Cup 2018 and 2022 bidding processes, Bin Hammam, in addition, to Blatter and Concacaf chief Jack Warner, will be questioned by the ethics committee, and Hammam’s decision to pull out of the presidential race has garnered much suspicion as well as surprise in the football world.
The news was broken on the 62 year-old’s website last night and almost overshadowed Barcelona’s triumphant Champions League performance and victory of Manchester United.
Mr Bin Hammam’s official website read:
“I made the decision to run for the FIFA presidency because I was and remain committed to change within FIFA.
“However, recent events have left me hurt and disappointed – on a professional and personal level.
“It saddens me that standing up for the causes that I believed in has come at a great price – the degradation of FIFA’s reputation. This is not what I had in mind for FIFA and this is unacceptable. I cannot allow the name that I loved to be dragged more and more in the mud because of competition between two individuals. The game itself and the people who love it around the world must come first.”
He went on to thank his supporters and then colleague Jack Warner before adding: “I pray that my withdrawal will not be tied to the investigation held by the FIFA Ethics Committee as I will appear before the Ethics Committee to clear my name from the baseless allegations that have been made against me.”
Bin Hammam’s decision to rescind his bid to become FIFA President leaves the much-loathed current boss Sepp Blatter as the only candidate standing and hot favourite to retain his seat on the FIFA crown.
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