First African Candidate For FIFA Presidency Emerges

The wait to see who will be the first African to announce that  wants to become the next president of football’s world governing body FIFA is over.
Liberian Football Association President Musa Bility has thrown his hat into the ring, displaying his usual ease with standing up for what he believes in.
His reasons for running for the top job are largely driven by his desire that Africa should take its place in the global football conversation.
“If Africa does not put up a candidate, it says a lot about us,” he told Tidesports “It shows a sense of mediocrity and that our only relevance is to vote and make leaders. I think that is not right.”
Africa’s 54 FIFA members makes it the world’s largest voting bloc, but there are concerns that Europe is trying to change the way decisions are made, which could dilute Africa’s power.
Earlier this month, Germany’s FA president Wolfgang Niersbach – who took a seat on the Fifa executive committee last month – said he wants to see changes to the current one country, one vote system.
Mr Niersbach wants “a certain amount of weighted voting based on the size and relevance of the sporting associations”, meaning that more powerful countries such as Germany would end up with more influence than smaller nations such as Lesotho, Swaziland or Guam.
This has caused consternation within African football.
The continent has long been aware of the pivotal role that it holds in the global game by virtue of its voting size, and it does not want to let it go.