Story highlights
Jordan's Prince Ali failed in his bid last week to replace Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA
He says Blatter should take responsibility for FIFA scandal because "this happened under his watch"
Blatter has not been accused of wrongdoing, but FIFA is under investigation and executives have been indicted
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who failed in his attempt on Friday to unseat embattled FIFA President Sepp Blatter, told CNN on Monday he would have “immediately resigned” if in Blatter’s position.
“He is responsible, and I hope that at some stage he actually does take responsibility for actions. Because he is the president of a governing body of the most popular sport in the world,” he told Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview.
Had he been president, he said, he probably would have stepped down “ages ago,” because “at the end of the day this happened under his watch.”
Blatter has not been accused of any wrongdoing. But the longtime FIFA president has come under renewed scrutiny a week after dual corruption investigations were launched into his organization and the U.S. indicted 14 current and former executives.
He was re-elected for a fifth term on Friday by FIFA’s 209 voting members. Prince Ali conceded the election after the first round of voting.
“FIFA acts in a way sort of like a company, rather than a service organization, which it is,” Prince Ali said. “It’s supposed to be a nonprofit.”
“And also they sort of drip feed aid to countries but without helping them and giving them the dignity and helping them progress in the world of football.”
Until last week, Prince Ali was a vice president of FIFA.
He told Amanpour that while he will “always be involved” in football, and support change in the organization, he does not know whether he would run for the presidency again.
“The genuine feeling among member associations and among the footballing world is that for sure, there needs to be a change.”