African candidate to run against Sepp Blatter for FIFA presidency
LIBERIA’S Musa Bility has announced on Thursday he intends to stand for the FIFA presidency, claiming the scandal-hit organisation needs a “great leader”.
The 48-year-old has been chairman of the Liberian FA since 2010 and becomes the second person after Brazilian legend Zico to announce his intention to succeed Sepp Blatter.
“Africa is the largest voting bloc in Fifa and we must take the lead to bring football together,” Bility told the BBC. “We all agree that football is facing a difficult moment and it is in difficult moments that great leaders emerge.”
Blatter has already announced he will step down as president after 17 years in the job following FIFA becoming embroiled in a series of corruption allegations.
“I have spoken to about half a dozen of the presidents of African football and I have their support — you can see the excitement,” Bility added. “If I have one reason to believe that Africa is not going to stand by me, I am not going to put up my candidacy.”
FIFA continues to be embroiled in corruption scandals, with former president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Ricardo Teixeira, the latest to deny taking bribes to vote for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, calling the allegation “nonsense.”
The denials come after US magazine World Soccer reported this week that Brazilian authorities had found evidence of payments from a Qatari construction company to a secret bank account held by Teixeira, a former executive committee member at world football’s governing body.
The magazine said the Monaco bank account contained 30 million euros ($A44m).
Teixeira, who acknowledges he voted for Qatar’s controversial hosting bid, denied he was paid to do so.
“I received nothing, absolutely nothing for that. This business about Qatar is complete nonsense,” he told Brazilian news site Terra.
Blatter has hired former federal prosecutor Richard Cullen to represent him as the ongoing corruption investigation engulfs football’s governing body.
The secretary-general of FIFA, Jerome Valcke, has in turn retained another American lawyer, Barry Berke, a FIFA spokesman told AFP.
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