Presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon warns of unprecedented manipulation in Fifa election

Fifa presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon on Tuesday warned the election to succeed Sepp Blatter was in danger of “being manipulated to a degree unseen even in previous notorious Fifa presidential elections”.

The 63-year-old billionaire South Korean has been subjected to attacks in the German press, who have not cited their source, since he launched his campaign to replace Blatter last week.

The 79-year-old Swiss stepped down shortly after winning a fifth term earlier this year with Fifa embroiled in allegations of corruption, 14 Fifa and sports business executives were charged by US authorities in May over more than US$150 million in bribes allegedly paid for television and marketing deals.

Seven Fifa officials have been detained but Blatter has not been linked to any corruption case.

Chung, a former Fifa vice-president, had on Saturday rejected the allegations against him in that he tried in 2010 to unfairly influence the vote in his home country’s favour for the hosting of the 2022 World Cup in violation of the body’s code of ethics – Qatar were controversial winners and their victory along with Russia’s for 2018 is subject to one of the investigations.

However, on Tuesday Chung issued another statement in which he slammed the manner in which the campaign was being constantly affected by leaks springing from within Fifa and he said if the election was not seen to be fair then Fifa’s image would not recover.

“Whether or not the upcoming Fifa presidential election takes place according to due process, fairness and openness will be the litmus test for whether or not genuine reform of Fifa will be possible,” the statement read.