By Andrew Warshaw
May 3 – The 35-strong CONCACAF Confederation today delayed its decision on who to back in the FIFA Presidential election after Sepp Blatter’s rival, Mohamed Bin Hammam, was denied access to attend its Congress in Miami.
It had been widely anticipated that Blatter would gain the upper hand and strike a significant blow in Bin Hammam’s absence.
But in the end the 75-year-old Swiss appeared to gain little advantage when CONCACAF President Jack Warner said it would be unfair to state an official position without also hearing from the challenger.
As reported exclusively by insideworldfootball, Bin Hammam, the Asian Football Confederation chief, failed to secure a visa in time to travel to the USA.
He will instead meet with CONCACAF’s Caribbean representatives in Trinidad on May 10 in a hastily arranged alternative summit.
Warner, whose organisation has been a strong backer of Blatter in the past, told a news conference immediately after the congress: “It is about fair play.”
However, he did confirm that CONCACAF would stick with its practice of voting as a block at the FIFA election in Zurich on June 1.
It is now likely that decision will be made at the FIFA Congress itself just before the vote.
Despite CONCACAF deferring its preferred choice, Blatter, who described the Americas as his “base”, said he was “absolutely sure” the Confederation would give him their usual strong backing.
But not everyone is so convinced.
Many outside the region believe that CONCACAF may ultimately stray from its usual strategy.
The election for President is by secret ballot and CONCACAF members are still peeved at the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar instead of the United States.
Not only that.
They became even more angry when FIFA’s Executive Committee failed to grant them another berth at the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.
Indeed, general secretary Chuck Blazer publicly expressed his personal disappointment.
Whether these two elements combined will be sufficiently strong to work against Blatter and in favour of Bin Hammam remains to be seen.
In the meantime, there was still no official explanation as to why Bin Hammam, a Qatari, was denied a visa especially when it was assumed he travels on a diplomatic passport.
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