Figo to tempt CONCACAF voters with cash boost plan
By Simon Evans
MIAMI (Reuters) - FIFA presidential hopeful Luis Figo will travel to the Caribbean this week hoping to tempt voters in the CONCACAF region with a plan to distribute more funds, $2.5 billion (1.7 billion pounds) over four years, to national associations.
CONCACAF hold their congress on Thursday in the Bahamas and the former Portugal international will be working the corridors as he looks to win support ahead of next month's vote for the FIFA presidency.
"One of the key aspects I want to talk about is my suggestion to distribute 50 percent of FIFA's revenues – $2.5 billion – directly to the member associations for solidarity over four years," Figo told Reuters in an email.
"This means eight million dollars per member association over four years, two million dollars per member association per year when presently they only receive $375,000 per year," he added.
Incumbent Sepp Blatter is widely viewed as the favourite to win a fifth term at the helm of football's governing body and has traditionally enjoyed strong support in the CONCACAF region, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean.
But with the United States Soccer Federation having nominated Jordanian Prince Ali in the election, CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb has stated that his confederation will not push their members to vote as a block.
Figo was at a CONCACAF event in Philadelphia in March where he met with Webb and some of the key players in the region.
Now the former Real Madrid and Barcelona winger hopes he can cut into Blatter's support, which has been particularly strong amongst the smaller Caribbean nations that make up the majority of CONCACAF federations.
For nearly 30 years, CONCACAF was controlled by Blatter ally, Trinidadian Jack Warner who stood down in 2011 in the midst of bribery allegations.
Despite Warner's influence at FIFA, the region contains many countries without basic football infrastructure and facilities.
Figo clearly sees that as an issue he can exploit.
"I will also allocate another $300 million to be distributed to the member associations in highest need, ear-marked for the construction of specific football infrastructure projects," he said.
"This means an additional two million dollars for 150 federation over four years. From what I've been hearing and analysing, some of this investment will be done in the CONCACAF region given the needs that several federation have there."
Figo says he also intends to dip into FIFA's $1.5 billion reserves for development projects focused on schools.
"I also intend to use 1 billion dollars of FIFA's 1.5 billion reserves that are in the bank to create different development projects.
"One million dollars per member association for the "Schools for Football" project, another million per federation for the "Boys and Girls for Football" project once the target of a ten percent increase in registered boys and girls is reached, plus a bonus of two million to each of the ten member associations with the highest growth rate in four years," said Figo.
"These are only a few investment measures I suggest. These are easily done with a more efficient and effective way to invest revenues generated by the World Cup," he said.
The head of the Dutch football association, Michael van Praag, is also standing in the election which will be held in Zurich on May 29 at the FIFA congress.
(Reporting By Simon Evans; editing by Martyn Herman)
