Time to oust Blatter and modernise FIFA says Van Praag

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Michael van Praag, the president of the Dutch Football Association (KNVB), on Wednesday named six countries who are backing his campaign for the FIFA presidency. Speaking at a news conference to formally launch his challenge to incumbent Sepp Blatter, the erudite 67-year-old said he had nominations from Belgium, Sweden, Scotland, Romania, the Faroe Islands and the Netherlands and had sent them to FIFA. He also said he would only stand for one four-year term if elected, adding the time had come for Blatter to step aside. "FIFA is doing badly and has lost all credibility," he said. "FIFA is constantly under suspicion of conflicts of interests of nepotism, of corruption. FIFA has its back to the future. "I have nothing against Mr Blatter," he continued, "in fact I like him a lot as a person. "However, someone who has led an organisation for so many years, and who has become the personification of its poor image, can no longer be the face of a modernisation operation for a new FIFA. It is impossible." Van Praag is one of five men intending to bring an end to Blatter's tarnished 17-year reign as president along with Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, Jerome Champagne of France, fellow Frenchman David Ginola and Luis Figo of Portugal. Italian-Dutch agent Mino Raiola, whose candidature was regarded as a publicity stunt, withdrew from the race on Wednesday. Candidates need five FA nominations to officially stand for election as president of world football's governing body with the nominations closing at midnight Central European Time (11:00 p.m.) on Thursday. OUTSIDE CHANCE Like most of the other candidates, Van Praag may only have an outside chance of ousting Blatter, but he likened himself to a small team playing a big side in a cup competition saying: "Everyone expects the small team to lose but sometimes they win." Van Praag said he would advocate a bigger World Cup if elected, find a place for Blatter in an advisory role, fight the scourge of match-fixing and "hold on to the good things FIFA has achieved" But, he added, "I want to do things differently to Mr Blatter, I only want to hold the hold the presidency for a single term of four years. "This is because I want to make room for a new generation as quickly as possible because I want to make full use of my time in office and not waste any time on a possible re-election. "I know from experience in business as well as football, big steps in reforming an organisation can be taken in four years. And modernisation is what is needed so badly and it will begin with normalisation. "As soon as a football organisation gets into political difficulties, a so-called normalisation committee is set up to solve the problem. "It is time FIFA applied this tool to its own organisation, because FIFA is stuck in a headlock. FIFA is doing badly and has lost all credibility." He said that although FIFA does do a lot for football, it could do so much more and needed to change with the times, becoming more transparent. Van Praag also revealed he spoke to Blatter earlier this month when they were both in Portugal for the Portuguese centenary celebrations and told him of his intentions. He promised him he would remain a FIFA advisor at the head of a Sepp Blatter Foundation to help underprivileged children across the world that would help guarantee Blatter's legacy. Van Praag added he was not working in tandem with other contenders like Prince Ali or Figo to unseat Blatter and would present his own detailed manifesto in the next few months. (Writing by Mike Collett; Editing by Ken Ferris)