'Less money, more football'

SINGAPORE — The race to decide FIFA’s new president is heating up ahead of the elections on Feb 26, with UEFA chief Michel Platini, South Korea’s Chung Mong-joon, Zico of Brazil — Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan has yet to announce his decision — expected to throw their hats into the ring. Whoever the winner, former French international Emmanuel Petit believes that the next football chief should steer FIFA’s back to its basic objectives of improving and building the game.

While FIFA had inked lucrative sponsorship deals with global brands such as Coca-Cola, Adidas and Visa in recent years — its revenue for last year was reported at over US$2 billion (S$2.7 billion) — the organisation has since been embroiled in a corruption scandal that has severely damaged its reputation and credibility. It has since led to the resignation of president Sepp Blatter — he will reportedly officially step down in February next year — and several high-profile names have since announced their intentions to run for FIFA president.

Speaking at the launch of Eleven Sports Network at Club 39 today (July 31), Petit said he expects the next FIFA president to uphold the purity and spirit of the game, while bringing the attention back to the development of football around the world.

“I hope the next FIFA president who comes in will make the organisation less political and more football focused,” said Petit, 44. “For the last 10 to 15 years, every time we talk about football it’s been about money. I agree money is a very important aspect, but we need to talk more about the game itself and somebody who loves football must come in to protect the game.

“We need to bring the passion for football back. The FIFA president must also unite all the continents, because right now there is division between the various federations around the world. This is not good, because football should unite people and that’s the message that we should send.”

Regardless of the troubles facing football and FIFA, fans remain enraptured by the game, with the English Premier League (EPL) in particular remaining one of the most popular sporting leagues around the world.

The EPL kicks off with the FA Community Shield on Sunday, with last season’s champions Chelsea taking on FA Cup winners Arsenal at Wembley.

Petit, who starred for both teams during his illustrious 16-year playing career, believes that while the Community Shield might be considered just a friendly tie, the match between the Gunners and the Blues will be anything but.

“There’s always tension when the two managers, (Arsene) Wenger (Jose) Mourinho go up against each other,” he said. “It will be more important for Arsenal and Wenger to get the victory because they haven’t beaten Chelsea since Mourinho took charge.

“Psychologically, if you don’t manage to win against one of your biggest rivals for more than 10 games, you will get the feeling that it will be impossible to ever beat them. That’s why winning the Community Shield is more important for Arsenal because it will show the players that they can beat Chelsea.”

Both Arsenal and Chelsea, along with Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City, are considered strong contenders for the Premier League title this season.

Despite Arsenal’s lack of transfer activity — veteran goalkeeper Petr Cech has been the club’s only big-name signing so far this summer — Petit has backed Wenger’s men to emerge triumphant come the end of the season.

“The way Arsenal play football, with each player enjoying their game, they are probably one of the best teams in Europe at the moment,” said Petit, who will be a guest pundit on Eleven Sports Network for their broadcast of the Community Shield.

“Wenger has done unbelievably well for Arsenal these few years and they are really competitive now with fantastic players such as (Mesut) Ozil and (Alexis) Sanchez in the team. When I watch Arsenal in their last couple of games, they were wonderful. If they keep playing the same way, they will win the title.”