Close FIFA election in prospect

UEFA President Lennart Johansson has predicted a close fight for the FIFA presidency, and has reaffirmed his support for the president of the African confederation CAF, Issa Hayatou, in Wednesday's presidential election in Seoul, Korean Republic.

Not yet certain
Speaking at a news conference held jointly by four FIFA vice-presidents today, the UEFA President said it was not yet certain that the FIFA President, Joseph S. Blatter, would easily win a second term of office when all 204 member nations of world football's governing body cast their votes. Mr Johansson predicted that the count would be far closer than expected.

Tough competition
"I'm quite convinced that it will be a very tough competition, and that the chances for Mr Hayatou will be just as great as those for Mr Blatter," said the UEFA President. "More and more people are moving to the Hayatou camp. My discussions with a lot of colleagues tell me that more and more people understand the serious situation that FIFA is in," he added.

Internal audit
All four FIFA vice-presidents expressed their concern at the FIFA President's decision to temporarily halt the work of an internal audit committee set up earlier this year by the world governing body to look specifically into FIFA's finances. 

Net loss
In an open letter to FIFA's national associations, distributed to the media, the chairman of the FIFA internal audit committee, David Will, said that the true net loss for the four years between 1999 and 2002 amounted to some CHF470m.

Extraordinary Congress
FIFA is holding an extraordinary Congress tomorrow to consider the body's financial affairs ahead of the presidential election 24 hours later. Mr Will said that he had an obligation to reveal the current financial position, and urged the Congress not to approve any financial figures until the audit committee, whose suspension has now been lifted, had completed its work.