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 Four of the five candidates to replace Sepp Blatter in the Feb. 26
election in Zurich gave presentations to members of the CONCACAF
confederation, which governs the sport in North and Central America
and the Caribbean, at an airport hotel in Miami.
Normally such meetings take place behind closed doors but CONCACAF
officials allowed the media into the room for a rare taste of how
the FIFA candidates make their pitch to the electorate -- the heads
of national football federations.
The protocol in such occasions is usually for candidates to avoid
public criticism of each other.
UEFA general secretary Infantino's plan to create eight new spots in
the World Cup was attacked by both Asian Football Confederation
president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and former FIFA
deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne, however.
Salman gave a powerpoint presentation of his manifesto and when he
discussed FIFA's biggest tournament, the words on the screen read
"Promises of more World Cup spots during an election period are
unprofessional".
The Bahraini said any changes should be well explained and gain
broad support before being introduced.
Champagne was sharper in his condemnation of Infantino's proposal.
"My program is not smoke and mirrors," the Frenchman said. "They are
facts and not the kind of projects that are being thrown around like
organizing a World Cup with 40 teams when we know that is not the
central issue for 150 federations around the world.
"We know that organizing a World Cup with 32 teams is already so
costly and so difficult. We know also that the international
calendar is so complicated," he added.
Infantino defended his plan.
"Eight more countries would be in World Cup fever," he said. "It
would boost the competition and commercially it means more teams,
more matches, more revenue".
The Swiss's proposal to massively increase the money FIFA gives to
individual federations for development and other projects was also
criticized by Salman.
Infantino says he will ensure that half of FIFA's entire revenue
will be distributed to federations with five million dollars over
four years for each member association as well as $40 million over
the same period for the regional confederations.
"Whenever there is an election we hear a lot of promises ... we have
to be realistic in what we can achieve and what we can do," said
Salman, who said cash should be targeted at those who needed it
most.
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"Does Japan, China or Saudi Arabia need financial support? I don't
think so. When we look at countries around the world, you can look
at countries like Germany, the U.K. or even the United States, I
think they don't need it as much as the smaller countries do."
Infantino also hit back at those who suggested his plan to
distribute more resources was simply an election tactic.
"I was criticized when I made these proposals, they said 'Ah, you
are trying to buy votes'," he said.
"I am not buying anything. It is not my money, it is your money.
FIFA's money is your money, the national associations' money."
TRADITIONAL POLITICKING
While the candidates mostly stuck to explaining their manifesto
plans, they did engage in some more traditional politicking,
tailoring their appeal to the CONCACAF audience.
Jordanian FA president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein said
scandal-plagued CONCACAF, which has seen its last three presidents
indicted as part of the U.S. Department of Justice investigation,
should not feel it was to blame for FIFA's crisis.
"Your confederation is not the cause of FIFA's problems it is a
victim of FIFA's problems. The failure of leadership at the top of
FIFA set the tone for the entire organization," he said.
Ali said that FIFA's recent decision to suspend payments to CONCACAF
was a "collective punishment" and said he was "outraged" when he
heard of the move.
Champagne told the delegates that "the media treats your region
unfairly", while Salman said "Asia and CONCACAF have so many
similarities between us".
There was no debate as the candidates each spoke without their
opponents in the room.
South African businessman and politician Tokyo Sexwale, the fifth
candidate, did not attend the meeting.
(This version of the story corrects attribution for quote in
paragraph 24.)
(Editing by Nick Mulvenney)
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