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Sepp Blatter v Prince Ali for FIFA job as Luis Figo, Michael van Praag exit

Michael van Praag and Luis Figo`s decisions to pull out of FIFA`s presidential race are unlikely to alter the outcome, apart from sparing Sepp Blatter an uncomfortable 15 minutes in Zurich and forcing Suriname to choose another candidate.

Sepp Blatter v Prince Ali for FIFA job as Luis Figo, Michael van Praag exit

Berne: Michael van Praag and Luis Figo`s decisions to pull out of FIFA`s presidential race are unlikely to alter the outcome, apart from sparing Sepp Blatter an uncomfortable 15 minutes in Zurich and forcing Suriname to choose another candidate.

Like the other three candidates, including Swiss incumbent Blatter, Dutch FA president Van Praag and former Portugal forward Figo have never let on how many of the 209 votes he expected to garner at the May 29 election.

The only promise of a vote Van Praag ever revealed was from the former Dutch colony perched on the north of South America, which in football terms is part of Central America and the Caribbean.

The fact that his only confirmed backing came from a country with strong Dutch connections hinted that Van Praag was not making much of an impression outside his comfort zone.

Figo, meanwhile, got plenty of public support from players but it was not so forthcoming from the national assocations who vote at the election.

In announcing his withdrawal on Thursday, Van Praag said he would throw his weight behind Prince Ali Bin Hussein of Jordan.

But it is unlikely to matter whether Blatter faces one, two or three opponents.

They 79-year-old is expected to sweep home for a fifth mandate with the vast majority of votes from Africa, North and Central America and the Caribbean, Asia and South America.

Only Europe, which holds 53 of the 209 votes, has opposed Blatter and, although some other associations may break ranks, they are unlikely to cause more than a small chink in his majority.

Although UEFA, European soccer`s governing body, believes that four mandates are enough for a man who was first elected in 1998, that view is not shared in other parts of the world.

Outside Europe, the scandals which have engulfed world soccer`s governing body over hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups have not registered to the same extent, if at all.

On the contrary, federations outside Europe see FIFA as the force which keeps the game truly global in the face of the growing financial power of a handful of elite European clubs and leagues.

FIFA distributes revenue equally among its 209 members, a policy which helped the likes of Cape Verde reach the African Nations Cup quarter-finals in 2013 and Costa Rica the same stage at the World Cup last year.

NO MANIFESTO

Although other candidates have also made promises about encouraging development, most associations are clearly happy with the current system and Blatter has been so confident of winning that he has barely mentioned the election at all.

He declined to take part in a debate with his three opponents, saying FIFA should avoid “copying politics”, and is the only one of them not to have published a manifesto.

"My manifesto is the work I have done in the last years in FIFA," he said following an executive committee meeting in March.

Van Praag was by far the most vocal critic of FIFA and produced a stinging attack when UEFA, the only continental confederation which allowed Blatter`s opponents to address their annual Congress, invited him to speak in March.

"The current state of disarray asks for a change in leadership. I cannot look away. It is the responsibility of our generation to clean up the mess," he said.

"Effective change is simply impossible under the leadership of the same person who is responsible for the state FIFA is in."

Figo, who until Thursday had been diplomatic, was even more outspoken as he launched his parting shot.

"I am firm in my desire to take an active part in the regeneration of FIFA and I will be available for it whenever it is proven to me that we are not living under a dictatorship."

Blatter will now be spared the indignity of having to sit through such criticism of his administration when the candidates deliver their 15-minute addresses to FIFA`s Congress before the election.

He could even sweep home in the first round of voting where candidates need to obtain two-thirds of the vote.