MANCHESTER: The FIFA presidency election is weighted in favour of the establishment according to Prince Ali bin Al Hussein writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

The former Asian vice-president of the world federation explained his frustrations, at Soccerex here, with a system which – as he found out earlier this – denies democratic debate.

He said: “The election process is very difficult in terms of a lot of pressure on confederations not to have a public debate, not to have proper debate. There was a little bit of intimidation.

“It’s general. It’s saying that, for example, if you have a congress and a confederation then candidates cannot take the stage, much less have a debate. That is completely the opposite of what we want in football.

“I hope and I want to make sure the next election process is done properly and correctly and the whole world has the ability to really look and see who is best for that position [of president].”

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