Brazil football legend Zico to stand for FIFA presidency

Rio de JaneiroFormer Brazil star Zico on Wednesday confirmed he will stand in the election to succeed Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA although he admitted he may struggle to find enough supportI would like to confirm the decision to be a candidate the 62yearold told a news conference I feel I am capable For sure certain rules need to change not least the constant horsetrading necessitated by the need to gather the support of at least five federationsThat need to have five federations behind you I think that is where the corruption starts as favours are offered asked for or called in Zico said Much needs to change and much is going to happen He pointed out he had come to the conclusion he ought to make a formal bid to stand after talking with former Portugal star Figo who briefly expressed his own desire to stand for the post before pulling out last monthI was asked if I had talked with Figo about his being a candidate for FIFA I said I had and that set me thinking Blatter has already announced he will stand down from the job after the organisation he has headed since 1998 was engulfed in a series of corruption allegationsZico who has experience of the game at managerial level having notably coached Japan said he believed the game had to undergo wideranging reforms But he added he believed it was right that Blatter be allowed to stay in place prior to a vote on a successor due to be elected between December and MarchThis will allow him to make an orderly handover Zico told reporters in Rio Zico nicknamed the White Pele during a playing career which never yielded a World Cup triumph joked that controversial Argentine legend Diego Maradona might be a potential vicepresidentMaradona a World Cup winner in 1986 was banned for doping eight years later and a previous drugs ban while playing in Italy would suggest he has little chance of joining the games establishment But he is a football name and he has every right therefore to put his name forward if he wished to do so Zico said He stressed that his own albeit brief experience two decades ago of serving as Brazilian minister of sport was an extra string to his bowI bring to the table experience and knowledge he insisted While underlining his interest in standing for a revamped FIFA Zico said he would first insist on a simplified voting system which is less open to horsetrading and exchanging of favours And he added he would also call for a system of one reelection at most noting that Blatter and predecessor Brazilian Joao Havelange had held the post between them for the past four decades his own entire career as player and coach He also said current UEFA president Michel Platini would make a good leader of the games world bodyZico added that the Brazilian Football Confederation CBF also needed a total overhaul with former president Jose Maria Marin one of seven top FIFA officials arrested in Zurich late last month as part of an FBI probe into corruption in the sport But that is even more difficult than reforming FIFA Zico suggested in wearily acknowledging that Brazilian football politics has long been a murky business He added he did not have close links with the CBF top brassOn Thursday the organization will hold a general assembly at its Rio headquarters where Marco Polo del Nero who replaced Marin in March will have to address the fallout from the FIFA corruption scandal after his predecessor was ensnared by the probe