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Dutchman Van Praag to challenge Blatter

Xinhua, January 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Michael van Praag on Tuesday sent an official candidacy letter to the FIFA headquarters in Zurich to announce his candidacy to succeed Sepp Blatter as president of the international football federation.

The letter was accompanied by the required five declarations of support from national associations backing Van Praag's candidacy. The elections are due to take place at the 65th FIFA congress in Zurich, which starts on May 29 this year.

"It's widely known that I'm very worried about FIFA," Van Praag stated on the website of the Dutch football association KNVB. "It is about time that the organization is normalized and that its full focus is back on football."

"For quite some time, I was hoping that another credible challenger would put himself forward, but that simply has not happened," he continued. "In that case, one should not confine oneself to words, but follow them up with deeds and decisiveness, which is why I now announce my candidacy."

Due to allegations about corruption the image of FIFA has been damaged in recent years. Last year during an UEFA meeting, preceding the 64th FIFA congress in Sao Paulo, Van Praag called on Blatter to stand down at the end of his current term.

"The image of FIFA has been tarnished by everything that has happened over the last years," Van Praag said in Brazil. "There are very few people who still take FIFA seriously and whatever way you want to cut and dice it, Blatter is responsible in the end."

The 78-year-old Blatter reacted by saying that he has never been so offended in his life, both professionally and personally. Blatter has been president of FIFA since 1998, when he succeeded the Brazilian Joao Havelange.

Van Praag (67), the son of former Ajax chairman Jaap van Praag, was chairman of Ajax from 1989 until mid-2003. He became president of the KNVB in 2008.

Three other candidates have also said to stand against Blatter during the elections: Frenchmen Jerome Champagne, who served as an FIFA executive from 1999 to 2010, and former football player David Ginola and Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, vice President of FIFA for Asia since 2011.

Players' and coaches' agent Mino Raiola, also from the Netherlands, last week stated he aimed for the presidency as well, but he withdrew his candidacy after he heard of Van Praag's ambitions. "It wasn't about me, but about a good candidate for the FIFA presidency," he said to Dutch broadcaster NOS on Tuesday. "We have one now with Van Praag." Endi