David Ginola wants to run for FIFA presidency against Sepp Blatter

In one corner, enigmatic Frenchman David Ginola, his carefully coiffured hair and dulcet tones a sparkly antidote to the man in the other, current incumbent and balding septuagenarian Sepp Blatter.

The former player’s coruscating presence would undoubtedly light up the conference rooms and corridors of power in the shiny bunker that serves as the headquarters of world football’s governing body in Switzerland.

“David Ginola is a great candidate for the FIFA presidency who will hopefully give all football lovers a real champion to get behind,” a member of Ginola’s campaign team told CNN.

And while many might dismiss the 47-year-old’s bid to become soccer’s most powerful individual as a gimmick, Ginola has some heavyweight backing in the form of a bookmaker, and one of the globe’s biggest public relations firms.

The ordinary football fan on the street would no doubt rank Ginola more popular than his rival by virtue of a distinguished and exuberant 17-year playing career that saw him star for the likes of French outfit Paris Saint-German and Tottenham in England.

But even though Blatter’s 17-year reign has been blighted, in its latter years at least, by scandal and criticism, the Swiss appears a vice-like grip on the presidency.

So why is Ginola putting his head above the parapet, and can he really oust a 78-year-old who enjoys overwhelming support from the majority of FIFA’s 209 members?

Blatter had repeatedly said his current term as president would be his last but had a rethink at the FIFA congress in June last year — this despite the increasingly turbulent nature of his tenure.

The Swiss has had to fend off allegations of corruption relating to the bidding process for the 2018 World Cup, awarded to Russia, and the 2022 instalment, given to Qatar.

He enlisted U.S. lawyer Michael Garcia to probe claims that Qatar’s former FIFA member Mohamed Bin Hammam used a multi-million dollar slush fund to buy support for the bid, charges the Qatar bid have strenuously denied.

Garcia quit his role as chairman of the Investigatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee after objecting to the way his report into the bidding process had been summarized by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert — the organisation’s independent ethics adjudicator.

Bin Hammam was the only challenger to the president four years ago but withdrew from the race after he was suspended on bribery charges, leaving Blatter to run unopposed amid farcical scenes at the Congress in Zurich.

The head of European soccer’s governing body, Michel Platini, has called on Blatter to stand down, but announced he wouldn’t be running for president.

It remains to be seen whether Ginola, or any of his fellow candidates, can make a significant dent in the support Blatter holds among FIFA’s members, and make the May elections anything more than another forgone conclusion.

CNN