Football Association will abstain in election for Fifa president

• FA board agrees to reject both Blatter and Bin Hammam • Decision taken due to ‘a well-reported range of issues’ The Football Association’s board has decided to abstain in the vote for the presidency of Fifa, citing “a well-reported range of issues”. The decision to support neither Sepp Blatter nor his Qatari challenger Mohamed bin Hammam in the vote on 1 June had been expected following the recent allegations of bribery surrounding Qatar’s successful bid for the 2022 World Cup. Bin Hammam, central to the Qatar bid, denies any wrongdoing. The FA chairman David Bernstein said: “There are a well-reported range of issues both recent and current which, in the view of the FA board, make it difficult to support either candidate. “The FA values its relationships with its international football partners extremely highly. We are determined to play an active and influential role through our representation within both Uefa and Fifa. “We will continue to work hard to bring about any changes we think would benefit all of international football.” Bernstein had previously admitted that “it wouldn’t go down very well” with the public if the FA board decided to vote for the 75-year-old Blatter. He said: “We will look at the recent events and take that on board. There are two candidates and three possible decisions, the other being that we will abstain.” One of the board members from the amateur game is Roger Burden, who withdrew his application to become FA chairman after the World Cup vote in December, saying he would have to work with Fifa and “I am not prepared to deal with people whom I cannot trust”. The Premier League members may have argued in favour of Bin Hammam – they have developed close links with the head of the Asian confederation – but evidently did not win a majority. The FA Fifa Sepp Blatter Mohamed bin Hammam David Bernstein guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 19, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.