Sepp Blatter’s former right-hand man Jerome Champagne looks set to announce he will stand to become the next FIFA president Blatter after inviting the world’s media to a news conference in London on Monday.
There has been speculation about Champagne’s plans for months following the publication of a 20,000-word document in 2012 outlining his vision of the future governance and direction for world football.
He was FIFA’s Deputy Secretary General between 2002 and 2005, worked on special projects between 2005 and 2007 and was their Director of International Relations from 2007 until he left FIFA in 2010 after political infighting cost him his position.
Since 2010 Champagne has worked as an independent international football consultant.
Meanwhile, Blatter has revealed he will decide whether to run for a fifth term as Fifa president before the World Cup, dropping his biggest hint yet he would stand again.
“Let me repeat what I have been saying. I am not yet tired enough to decide that I will retire,” he told L’Equipe 21 TV.
“Having said, that everything is open. I will certainly take a stand before this year’s Congress.”
Elections for the FIFA presidency are due to be held in Zurich in June 2015.
