The International Football Federations Thread

[FestiveJack]

He's not going to win.

[Colly]

I think everybody on planet earth should back this, greatest news ever.

Sadly everybody on planet earth don't make a difference if Davide (e added for pronunciation) can't bribe enough backwater nations.

[Lineker]

Fucking Ginola!!

[DFF]

Seeing as though CONCACAF have actually done their draw for their first qualifying round, do we get to re-open to the 2018 World Cup thread now?

We should so choose some minnows to follow!

[Lineker]

BREAKING NEWS: Dutch FA president Michael Van Praag announces intention to challenge Sepp Blatter for FIFA presidency. More on #SSNHQ

— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ)

January 26, 2015

[Lineker]

The FA is set to give Prince Ali of Jordan one of the five nominations he needs to stand as a candidate in the Fifa presidential election.

BBC Sport understands a proposal to back the 39-year-old will be put to the FA board for ratification when they meet on Thursday.

Sources say the decision does not necessarily mean that the FA will vote for Ali in May's poll. The decision is believed to have been made in the interests of promoting a healthy debate around Fifa's future.

[Colly]

Ginola is in and we're backing Prince Ali?

[stokeriño]

By way of apology for fucking up Jordan back in the 1920s.

[Colly]

She must be well old, what was Peter Andre thinking?

[stokeriño]

Of course, it was called Transjordan in those days.

...I'm just to leave that and walk away.

[Colly]

That's not very tolerant.

Night all!

[Berober]

[Lineker]

Figo has thrown his name into the ring.

[Colly]

I'm on Team Figo now, the Paddypower association has soured the Ginola bid. The BBC seem to have used a photo of him with his topless wife.

[Lineker]

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has fired his opening salvo in his campaign for re-election by saying Australia deserves to host the World Cup. In his first column in FIFA Weekly magazine since confirming he will be a candidate for May's election, Blatter said: "Australia is the only continent never to have hosted the World Cup finals. "That is basically an unfortunate omission in sporting history because very few countries boast such a rich sporting culture and long list of champions. We can say with confidence that it would be more than deserved if Australia were to stage the World Cup at some point."

You know you could have done that in, y'know, 2022, Seppy.

[MDK]

Pandering to Plubby, for shame

[Lineker]

A new low.

[Gazz]

[Lineker]

Luis Figo is to launch his manifesto for the Fifa presidential election this Thursday at Stamford Bridge. Advisers for the former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Portugal winger say he will also speak "about his plan to restore the credibility and rebuild trust in football's world governing body".

[Lineker]

Luis Figo is to launch his manifesto for the Fifa presidential election this Thursday at Stamford Bridge. Advisers for the former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Portugal winger say he will also speak "about his plan to restore the credibility and rebuild trust in football's world governing body".

Luis Figo would consider a bigger World Cup if he is elected to replace Sepp Blater as Fifa president.

Releasing his manifesto at Wembley Stadium, the legendary Portugal midfielder said he would look at increasing the number of teams from 32 to 40 or even 48.

Figo, 42, is one of three candidates challenging Blatter in the election on 29 May.

He also proposed sin-bins and reverting to the old offside rule interpretation.

Dutch federation president Michael van Praag and Jordanian Prince Ali bin Al Hussein are also in the running to become head of football's world governing body.

Former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter Milan winger Figo, who played at two World Cups, said on Thursday that the current format could be increased to 40 teams or Fifa could stage two 24-team competitions simultaneously on two continents, followed by a knockout phase in one nation.

He said: "Both these options are feasible with an extra three to four days of tournament play. If this expansion were to take place I believe that additional teams should come from non-European nations.

"We not only make sure that we include more countries from across the world, but also enable Fifa to raise significant increased revenues that can be used to invest in the growth of the game globally."

Figo, the 2001 Fifa world player of the year, also proposes:

• Spreading half of Fifa's $2.5bn revenue over four years to associations to fund grassroots football.
• Redistributing $1bn of Fifa's $1.5bn cash reserves to the 209 national federations.
• Increased use of technology in the game, using sin-bins for unsporting behaviour.
• Reverting back to the previous interpretation of the offside rule, "where a player is judged offside whether directly involved in the play or not".

Blatter, 78, has been Fifa boss since 1998 and said in June 2014 that he intended to run for a fifth term.

He was criticised for Fifa's handling of Michael Garcia's report into alleged corruption during the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.