Mohamad Bin Hammam has confirmed he wants to stay on as president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) after next year and will not challenge Sepp Blatter for the leadership of FIFA. The 61-year-old Qatari had suggested earlier this year that the time had come for world governing body FIFA to appoint an Asian president. “Let me be very clear, I will not run for the next FIFA election. I will be backing Sepp Blatter to remain in office for a new mandate,” Bin Hammam told AFC website (www.the-afc.com). “My aim is to run for the next election of AFC president due at the start of 2011. Hopefully I will get the full confidence of all the national associations.” Bin Hammam has overseen soccer in Asia since 2002 and had been seen as one of the few figures in world football who could take on Swiss Blatter, who will seek a fourth term as FIFA president next year. Widely regarded as a succesful reformer who has revived Asian soccer, Bin Hammam's critics accuse him of being dictatorial. Last year, he survived a challenge to the place on the FIFA executive board he has held since 1996. Blatter backs professional referees for 2014 Cup FIFA president Sepp Blatter believes referees should be full-time professionals if they want to work at the next World Cup. Blatter said Sunday that improving the quality of elite referees is his top priority for the game in the coming months – and beyond if he is chosen next June to lead FIFA for a fourth four-year term. The veteran Swiss said “as long as I am (president)” then “only professionals” will be taken to Brazil in 2014. “We must do something for the top referees,” said Blatter, speaking at a tournament held in his honor by his family's home village in the Alps. “You can't have non-professional referees in professional football.” Blatter's call for change followed a series of high-profile errors by World Cup referees in South Africa, where just two of the 30 selected for FIFA duty listed refereeing as their full-time job. In June, he promised FIFA would review how referees were prepared for future World Cups two days after witnessing England and Mexico eliminated on the same day following game-changing mistakes in their second-round matches. He apologized to team officials after each match. Blatter said Sunday he will present a detailed report to the FIFA executive committee which he chairs at a meeting scheduled Oct. 28-29 in Zurich. “It's a new approach to refereeing at the highest level,” he said, adding that younger referees would be preferred. FIFA currently requires match officials to retire at 45. FIFA was already “doing well” in grassroots training, with $43 million budgeted for its global Refereeing Assistance Program before the next World Cup tournament kicks off. “This will go on, but we must do something for the top referees,” said Blatter.
