Jordan's Prince Ali bin Hussein, the man who attempted last week to unseat Sepp Blatter from his perch atop FIFA, had some parting shots Tuesday following the news of Blatter's resignation in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
Unsurprisingly, he didn't hold back on slamming Blatter for his handling of certain issues, specifically Qatar's bid to the host the 2022 World Cup, which is now under investigation by Swiss authorities (along with Russia's 2018 World Cup bid). Prince Ali said Blatter has fallen short on the additional issue of poor working and living conditions for migrant workers in the country.
I think that, again, every national association has the right to host the World Cup, wherever it is. But they have to respect human rights, and when you have somebody like Sepp Blatter, who has not exactly been very forceful on this issue, then there is a problem. I have worked very hard with other colleagues ... to try and bring this to the table. And we have to continue ... We have a responsibility to the whole world.
Prince Ali withdrew from FIFA presidential elections on Friday, leading to Blatter's unprecedented fifth term. However, he did not rule out possibly running again now that Blatter plans to step down with another election to be held "as soon as possible."
It has been a very difficult campaign, for many, many reasons. But I am at the disposal of all the national associations who want a change. Including many of them who were afraid to do so before this day. But I'm there, I'm there for them. And I think we need to salvage the situation. We have to help football and we have to help the world as a whole.
In what has been a dramatic week for FIFA, following the U.S.-led investigation into two-decades of corruption at the world's soccer governing body, Prince Ali repeated that change is not only needed, but possible.
At the end of the day, we have to salvage FIFA. And we have to bring it back to where it should be. This idea of Europe boycotting, or whatnot, is ridiculous. FIFA is an organization that needs to serve to whole entire world, and I'm there to support it as developing nation, for sure. And therefore we have to stand together. And I think that right now, we can do that.