Tokyo Sexwale ended his campaign for the FIFA presidency on Friday, leaving it up to the remaining four candidates to vie for the hot seat of world football’s governing body.
The South African native delivered a charismatic speech at the congress in Zurich, raising a few laughs from those in attendance, but ultimately stepped down, saying: “It’s your problem now.”
His late withdrawal means he wasn’t on the ballot for the first round of voting, which began immediately after his address.
“I am sorry we lost our friends, Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke,” Sexwale said before he opted out. “I hope one day they can resolve their problems, and we will be able to help them. (Nelson) Mandela told us never to rejoice in the pain and misery of others.
“We came to fix our own family, FIFA … football is not broken – football is fine. It’s not rocket science – it has problems, it must be grown … The task is to change the playing fields from brown patches to green fields.”
Before announcing the close of his campaign, he quipped,”If it will be the other four candidates, then it will be a party. Of course, if it is me, it will be a greater party.”
Sexwale’s bid to be chief of FIFA took a blow when his home continent instead opted to back the presidential push of Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, leaving Mandela’s former fellow prison inmate as one of the less-fancied candidates, along with Jerome Champagne.
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein is deemed a more likely president by the bookmakers, but it is expected to be a two-way battle between Gianni Infantino and Sheikh Salman to succeed Sepp Blatter.
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