With Switzerland’s Sepp Blatter announcing he will resign as the president of FIFA after 17 years in the role, attention will now turn to who will
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With Switzerland’s Sepp Blatter announcing he will resign as the president of FIFA after 17 years in the role, attention will now turn to who will replace him at the helm of football’s world governing body.
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, the president of the Jordan football association, who failed in his attempt to unseat the 79-year-old on Friday, is considered a heavy favourite while Luis Figo is also in the running.
Following Blatter’s speech, the former Real Madrid star, who backed out of the FIFA presidential race on May 21, said he hoped that the governing body would now enter a new era and added it was ‘‘a good day for football’‘.
All eyes will also be on Uefa president Michel Platini although it is not yet known whether he will run for the FIFA presidency.
The former French international, who asked Blatter to resign before last week’s election, backed the Swiss’ decision to step down.
According to Domenico Scala, the head of Fifa’s Compliance Committee, the election will take place some time between next December and March.