After two powerful figures in football were accused of forking over close to £20,000 to officials for bribes, FIFA officials have received calls to cancel the presidential election next week. Mohamed Bin Hammam one of the candidates for FIFA president and Jack Warner, Vice –President have been charged, in the most serious crisis of corruption to hit the governing body, with bribery.
The MP, Damian Collins, who named two other members of FIFA in Parliament as having received alleged bribes for the World Cup 2022 Qatar bid, has requested that FIFA abandon elections.
Saying that if Bin Hammam is suspended then Sepp Blatter would be a shoo-in to win the presidency so there should be a new election with new candidates coming forward to run for the election. There also needs to be a proper investigation and because of the time constraints for the election this cannot happen so the election should be cancelled.
Both Warner and Bin Hammam will face the ethics committee for FIFA on Sunday and face potentially long bans from football. Both have denied any part in any wrongdoing. The election between Blatter and Bin Hamman is scheduled for Wednesday and Bin Hamman has declared that the charges are an attempt by Blatter to increase his chances.