Bin Hammam only challenger to Blatter

Wednesday, 6th April 2011 at 05:29am

Asian football confederation chief Mohamed Bin Hammam has confirmed as the sole challenger to current Fifa President Sepp Blatter at the upcoming presidential election on June 1.

Bin Hammam, 61, announced that he would run against the 75-year-old Blatter last month.

Swiss Blatter has been the head of football's world governing since 1998 and announced that, if re-elected, he would stand down in 2015 when his fourth term would come to a conclusion.

Either Blatter or Bin Hammam will be elected as a Fifa Congress, which begins on the final day of May.

Any candidate wishing to be nominated for Fifa presidency had to confirm their entry by April first and for either Bin Hammam or Blatter to win they will require a two-thirds majority in the first vote or simply a majority in the second.

The Qatari is the first person to challenge Blatter for nine years since African confederation president Issa Hayatou - a man implicated in the BBC's Panorama program last year - was beaten by 139 votes to 56.

Bin Hammam who played an important role in the controversial decision to award the tiny desert nation the 2022 World Cup is thought to want to push for the introduction of goal-line technology and greater transparency of the organisation if elected.

The 208 Fifa members will vote to determine who shall win the election and the Qatari feels he has a "50-50" chance of becoming the ninth Fifa president.

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