Figo has to play Blatter at his own game to succeed

Luis Figo has one massive thing going for him as he bids to become FIFA President. He’s not Sepp Blater!

That might sound like I’m overlooking any of his policies and looking only at personalities.

That’s not the case. I like some of Figo’s suggestions like simplifying the offside rule and distributing money to fund grassroots football.

Other things I’m not so sure about.

I don’t feel we need to increase the number of teams at the World Cup Finals because the tournament is already big enough. But I feel Figo is a man you could have a reasoned debate with and is putting forward his ideas for the good of the game as a whole.

That’s something I can’t say about Blatter.

He has been very clever in the way he has built up power bases in certain parts of the world. For a long time he has managed to ensure he gets nearly 50 votes from the African countries when he’s up for re-election.

I will leave you to decide how he manages to attract that level of support.

Some will say Figo’s idea of expanding the World Cup by introducing more non-European teams is an attempt to steal some votes from Blatter. That may be true and I don’t blame him because he maybe has to play the President at his own game.

The 78-year-old has regularly thrown titbits in the direction of countries around the world to buy their support and I’m sick of FIFA being more about politics than football.

It’s not just Blatter we need to get rid of, but all of his cronies as well. There have been too many snouts in the trough for too long.

Figo is a man of independent means and isn’t in this to make money. He’s had all the glory of a successful football career and is treated like a god in his home country of Portugal. There’s no need for him to use the FIFA Presidency as some sort of vanity project.

Unfortunately, I can’t be confident of him winning the election because Blatter won’t go without one almighty fight. It’s a complete joke that he’s going for a fifth term in office.

I’m sure the majority of football fans would support Figo but, sadly, their views hold little sway with the FIFA powerbrokers.