Sexwale vows to restructure FIFA, eyes Asian growth

Tokyo Sexwale, the South African FIFA presidential aspirant, on Wednesday published his manifesto, vowing to revamp the corruption-tainted organisation and grow football in India and China.
He said the document released to the media was the foundation for a turn-around strategy, "to repair the damage done to the FIFA brand globally".

He aims to "restructure the organisation and win back the trust and confidence" of all, including fans, players, officials, administrators, sponsors and governments.

Sexwale, a politician and millionaire businessman who was jailed alongside Nelson Mandela under apartheid rule, is one of the five candidates cleared last week to be in the race to succeed Sepp Blatter.

The other confirmed candidates are Jordanian Prince Ali bin al Hussein, Bahraini Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa, Swiss Gianni Infantino and Frenchman Jerome Champagne.

The 62-year-old also wants to develop football in Asia, the fast economic growing continent where the sport has lagged behind.

"The vast and yet-to-be fully tapped market of football in large societies, (such as) China and India, will receive more attention with the strong probability of increased revenue sources from these large economic areas.

"There is room for more growth and development. This is my strategic priority."

In a bid to bolster the coffers of struggling football associations, Sexwale proposed, among other strategies, the sponsoring of national jerseys as happens in other sporting disciplines such as rugby union.

He proposes that national associations "seriously explore the possibility of having the national jersey... bearing the logo of the main sponsor -- not only the jersey-maker as currently is the case.

"There is space there for much value worth millions of dollars which will be destined directly into FAs coffers."

FIFA currently prohibits national shirt sponsorship, although clubs use it widely.

FIFA has been has been battered this year by an unprecedented corruption scandal at the top of the organisation.
Source: AFP