U.S. to vote against Sepp Blatter in FIFA election
Sam Borden of the New York Times spoke Thursday with U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati, who announced that America's delgate in Friday's FIFA presidential election will vote for Prince Ali bin al-Hussein.
Al-Hussein is the only challenger to the current FIFA president, Joseph "Sepp" Blatter.
In February, the United States was one of six nations who officially nominated Ali as a candidate. The other countries were England, Belarus, Georgia, Malta and Ali's native Jordan.
Gulati, a member of FIFA's executive committee, i is well aware of the potential ramifications of turning against the king and king-maker of international soccer's governing body. Chief among those ramifications is that if Blatter wins (which he almost surely will), he could exact retribution by denying a potential U.S. bid to host the 2026 World Cup.
It looks like Gulati - who teaches at Columbia University in addition to his U.S. Soccer and FIFA work - is ready to accept those ramifications. Here is an exceprt of what he told Borden:
"Would I like to see the United States host a World Cup in the future?" Gulati said. "The answer is, of course, yes. But for me, and for U.S. soccer, better governance and more integrity at Concacaf and FIFA are far more important than hosting any international soccer tournament."
He added: "I'm sure there are some people who would disagree with that decision and would prioritize things differently. But this is how we feel, and we are doing what we think is right. If being on the right side of issues costs us from hosting a World Cup in the future, that would be unfortunate. But we are prepared to deal with that."
Borden later tweeted this additional quote from Gulati:
Gulati himself will not cast the U.S.' vote because he's on the FIFA That, according to Borden, will be done by U.S. Soccer Federation treasurer Carlos Cordeiro. All 209 FIFA member nations are eligible to vote.
After Borden's story was published, Gulati took to Twitter himself to make his point clear:
Gulati then spoke with another group of reporters on a conference call. Some highlights:
One of the United States' top rivals in the potential bidding for 2026 will also vote against Blatter. Canadian Soccer Association president Victor Montagliani told the Canadian Press Thursday evening that FIFA "needs a definite change, a refresh."
Earlier Thursday, Montagliani and Gulati - along with soon-to-retire Mexican federation president Justino Compean - were named to a commission tasked with "charged with the duties of evaluating and sustaining all of the business operations" of CONCACAF in the wake of Wednesday's dramatic indictments by the U.S. government.
Among the indicted were CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb and Costa Rica federation president Eduardo Li. Both men were "provisionally dismissed" from the North and Central American confederation on Thursday. CONCACAF secretary general Enrique Sanz - widely believed to be "Co-Conspirator #4" in the indictment of Webb, Li and others - was also "suspended indefinitely."
Costa Rica and Panama have since stated publicly that their delegates will vote for al-Hussein. UEFA, the confederation of European national associations, will back al-Hussein as well. The Asian and African confederations have said they will back Blatter.
The election will be contested in up to two rounds. If one candidate does not secure two-thirds of the votes in the first round, only a simple majority will be needed in the second.