February 17, 2011: Sports Illustrated Journalist Announces Rogue Candidacy for FIFA President

Unsuccessful FIFA presidential candidate Grant Wahl. [Source: Sports Illustrated]Sports Illustrated journalist Grant Wahl announces a bid for the FIFA presidency, joining the incumbent Sepp Blatter and Asian strongman Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar in the race. In order to be on the ballot for the summer election, however, Wahl has to be nominated by one FIFA member by April 1. Wahl criticizes Blatter for the corruption that dogged the recent World Cup bidding process and says that trusting Blatter to clean up the organization is like “trusting a Tour de France winner to oversee cycling’s anti¬doping program.” He also dismisses bin Hamman as “just another FIFA insider.” Wahl’s program is:
Clean up the organization, including “releasing all of its internal documents, WikiLeaks-style, and commissioning an independent investigation using the guidelines of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act”;
Enhancing the role of women in FIFA, including appointing a female general secretary;
Support for instant replay;
The World Cup will be refereed by the best referees, regardless of where they come from, and they will have to explain decisions to the press after games;
Yellow cards will no longer be awarded for removing a shirt following a goal;
A limit of two terms will be imposed on the FIFA president.
While Wahl’s chances of being nominated are slim, he comments, “I actually think I would beat Blatter if the election were left up to the world’s soccer fans (instead of the current system of one vote per FIFA member nation).” [Sports Illustrated, 2/17/2011]