FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam has said football’s world governing body is not corrupt.
Earlier this week Lord Triesman, who ran England’s failed 2018 World Cup bid, made allegations against several high-ranking FIFA officials. But Bin Hammam said: “I will happily and unreservedly restate that I firmly believe FIFA, as a decision-making body and as an organisation, isn’t corrupt.”
Bin Hammam, 62, takes on current chief Sepp Blatter in an election on June 1.
However, Bin Hammam, the Qatari president of the Asian football confederation, did say that FIFA needs a “new atmosphere” to dispel negative publicity surrounding the organisation.
“It is impossible to deny that its reputation has been sullied beyond compare,” admitted Bin Hammam. “It’s time for that to change.”

Triesman levelled corruption allegations against a number of senior FIFA officials who were involved in the voting process for the next two World Cups.
Bin Hamman said that under the leadership of Blatter, FIFA had been “choosing to run football how it sees fit, rather than doing so in a manner that is consistent with the governing body’s proper procedures”.
That had made it “hard to get the public to believe in the organisation”.
He added: “There needs to be an opportunity for new ideas to take hold and for the organisation to take a new direction.”
Meanwhile, Damian Collins, the MP who revealed the latest World Cup bribery scandal, said the Football Association should offer to abandon its historic FIFA privileges in return for reform of the world governing body.
Collins used Parliamentary privilege on Tuesday to allege that FIFA executive members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma had been paid $1.5M (£900 000) to vote for Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2002 World Cup.
The FA and the governing bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the only individual national associations on the International Football Association Board, the game’s law-making body.
Each of the UK associations has a vote and FIFA has four votes.
This situation has long caused resentment among some figures in world football and Collins said the FA could take the lead on reform by offering to give them up.
Collins, MP for Folkestone and Hythe, said: “The FA should be at the vanguard of pushing for the reform of FIFA. We should be leading the call for change and should be prepared to ruffle a few feathers.
“We should be prepared to give concessions in order to achieve reform and be prepared to consider giving up the historic privileges.”
Collins said the reforms should include the World Cup bidding process, that there should be strict rules governing contact between bidding nations and FIFA ExCo members, and that FIFA should consider restaging the 2022 vote if the allegations against Qatar are proved.
Bin Hammam, who did much to secure the 2022 World Cup for his country, has denied any bribes were paid.
“I can assure you nothing like this has happened from our side,” he insisted.
“If someone wants to damage reputations like this then they have to provide the proof. You can’t just accuse people just like that. It didn’t happen.” (BBC Sport)