Prince Ali confirms bid for FIFA presidency

Berlin - Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan has submitted his bid for the FIFA presidency at elections scheduled in February.

Candidates have until October 26 to submit formal bids for the elections to succeed president Joseph Blatter, who is the subject of a criminal investigation by Swiss prosecutors.

In a letter Thursday addressed to the president and secretary-general of football's world governing body, 39-year-old Prince Ali said FIFA was in "a crisis of leadership" and referred to a "dark cloud over FIFA's leadership."

Without naming the five nominations he had garnered to lodge his bid, Prince Ali wrote: "We cannot change the past but FIFA can have a better future.

"We can ensure that FIFA regains the credibility to fulfil our obligations under our own statutes 'to promote integrity, ethics and fair play.'

"I have never lost sight of the fact that there are so many good and honest people within the global FIFA organisation."

Prince Ali was the sole challenger to Blatter when the Swiss won a fifth term in May's presidential election.

Just days later Blatter, 79, announced his intention to step down, with his successor to be elected at an extraordinary FIFA congress in Zurich on February 26.

On Wednesday, Prince Ali said the elections to elect a new president must not be delayed following FIFA's decision to suspend Blatter and UEFA president and FIFA presidential candidate Michel Platini for 90 days.

South Korean former FIFA vice-president Chung Mong Joon, who was also hoping to run for the presidency, was suspended for six years in sanctions by FIFA's ethics committee.