Luis Figo drops out of Fifa presidential race, fires parting shot at ‘dictator’ Sepp Blatter

Luis Figo was in the running to become the next Fifa president but has conceded he is unlikely to win against Sepp Blatter. Matt Dunham / AP Photo

Luis Figo dropped out of the Fifa presidential election on Thursday, calling football’s governing body a dictatorship under Sepp Blatter.

The Portugal great and former Fifa World Player of the Year said in a statement sent to The Associated Press that he refuses to go along with an election process that is designed "for the delivery of absolute power to one man" — indicating Blatter, the current Fifa president.

Figo’s announcement came hours after another candidate, Dutch football federation president Michael van Praag, also withdrew from the May 29 election. That leaves only Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan in the race against Blatter.

Figo said during campaigning he encountered hypocrisy among federation presidents around the world, and that people who wanted to speak out had been silenced. He gave no names.

He said Fifa was “living under a dictatorship” with Blatter, whose re-election is widely expected.

Both Figo and Van Praag had argued that Fifa had lost credibility amid corruption scandals and accusations of nepotism levelled at Blatter, who is aiming to extend his 17-year reign with a fifth term when the 209 national federations vote next week.

Van Praag switched his support to Fifa vice president Prince Ali, but Figo made no mention of making a similar move.

“Fifa needs change and I feel that the change is urgent,” Figo said, adding that he wanted to clean up “Fifa’s reputation as an obscure organisation that is so often viewed as a place of corruption.”

Figo argued that there should be a public debate on each candidate’s proposals.

“That would be normal, but this electoral process is anything but an election,” he said.

Figo also said that during campaigning he had “witnessed consecutive incidents, all over the world, that should shame anyone who desires football to be free, clean and democratic.”

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