Luis Figo launched his manifesto in London
Luis Figo spoke of the need for a "new era" as he launched his manifesto
in London, England on Thursday (19th February) to become the next
president of FIFA.
Former Portugual international Luis Figo launched his manifesto at Wembley Stadium in London on Thursday (19th February) as he looks to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA President.
The former Barcelona and Real Madrid player feels that Blatter has "had very positive achievements for football", but added "sometimes a point is reached, which change is needed, a new era is about to arrive"
Blatter has been in charge of FIFA since 1998 and is in the running for a fifth term in office.
Asked by SNTV what percentage chance he believed he had of usurping Blatter, Figo responded "One hundred per cent. I am always positive", and added "the people I have been talking with and seeing, they have shown me respect, the support, but until the 29th (May) you don't know what's going to happen because the vote is secret. We have to wait and see what happens"
Among the things that Figo would like to consider is expanding the number of participants from at a FIFA World Cup from 32 to 40, or even 48, and said a few days of extra play in the tournament would accommodate such an increase.
He is also would like to see an increase in the distribution of FIFA revenue to member associations to USD$2million per year, and also wants the USD$1 billion of FIFA's USD$1.5 billion reserves to be redistributed to member associations.
The 42-year-old is in favour of goal-line technology, would like to revert back to the old offside interpretation and wants to test the idea of sin-bins for unsporting behaviour towards referees.
He also called for a "zero tolerance" on racism after the recent footage from Paris of Chelsea fans chanting abuse.
Figo doesn't believe that the conflict in eastern Ukraine will affect Russia's suitability for staging the 2018 FIFA World Cup and said "That is politics. The decision is taken, I just have to think about what I should change in the future. I have an opinion if you don't demonstrate that there is something wrong with the bidding, in this case for Russia and Qatar, we don't have to punish those countries."
Former Portugual international Luis Figo launched his manifesto at Wembley Stadium in London on Thursday (19th February) as he looks to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA President.
The former Barcelona and Real Madrid player feels that Blatter has "had very positive achievements for football", but added "sometimes a point is reached, which change is needed, a new era is about to arrive"
Blatter has been in charge of FIFA since 1998 and is in the running for a fifth term in office.
Asked by SNTV what percentage chance he believed he had of usurping Blatter, Figo responded "One hundred per cent. I am always positive", and added "the people I have been talking with and seeing, they have shown me respect, the support, but until the 29th (May) you don't know what's going to happen because the vote is secret. We have to wait and see what happens"
Among the things that Figo would like to consider is expanding the number of participants from at a FIFA World Cup from 32 to 40, or even 48, and said a few days of extra play in the tournament would accommodate such an increase.
He is also would like to see an increase in the distribution of FIFA revenue to member associations to USD$2million per year, and also wants the USD$1 billion of FIFA's USD$1.5 billion reserves to be redistributed to member associations.
The 42-year-old is in favour of goal-line technology, would like to revert back to the old offside interpretation and wants to test the idea of sin-bins for unsporting behaviour towards referees.
He also called for a "zero tolerance" on racism after the recent footage from Paris of Chelsea fans chanting abuse.
Figo doesn't believe that the conflict in eastern Ukraine will affect Russia's suitability for staging the 2018 FIFA World Cup and said "That is politics. The decision is taken, I just have to think about what I should change in the future. I have an opinion if you don't demonstrate that there is something wrong with the bidding, in this case for Russia and Qatar, we don't have to punish those countries."
No comments