Chung mulls challenge to FIFA chief Blatter

South Korean football powerbroker Chung Mong-Joon said Thursday he is mulling a bid to unseat FIFA President Sepp Blatter next year.

Chung, a FIFA vice president who was believed to have supported a failed campaign against Blatter in 2002, said he was considering running against the world football supremo when he stands for re-election in May 2011.

The 58-year-old, a member of the FIFA executive committee since 1994, said he believed it was “healthy” for there to be competition for the top job.

“I have not thought of doing so before seriously but now I will think about it,” Chung told the Leaders in Football conference.

“It’s still too early to say there will be no contender next May.

The president of the Asian Football Confederation, Mohamed Bin Hammam, ruled out a challenge to topple Blatter in August.

However Chung, a scion of Korea’s Hyundai group, insisted change at the top was in the interests of FIFA.

“In order to keep a large organisation like FIFA healthy you need healthy competition,” he told the conference.

Blatter, 78, was elected to the FIFA presidency in 1998 after long-serving predecessor Joao Havelange stepped down.

He survived a ferocious attempt to unseat him four years later, when African football chief Issa Hayatou stood for president with the support of several prominent FIFA members, including then UEFA supremo Lennart Johansson.

Blatter was returned unopposed in 2007 for a third term but has seen persistent questioning of his position.

Earlier this year, Bin Hammam tabled a motion seeking to limit the FIFA presidency to two terms or a maximum of eight years. The measure was rejected 15-5 by FIFA’s executive.