TIME Soccer

Prince Ali of Jordan Says He Will Run for President of FIFA Again

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan speaks at the Roman Amphitheatre area in Amman
Muhammad Hamed—Reuters Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan speaks at the Roman Amphitheatre area in downtown Amman, Jordan, on Sept. 9, 2015

The 39-year-old lost the previous election to Sepp Blatter, who resigned in early June

Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al-Hussein will make a second consecutive bid to become president of world soccer governing body FIFA, announcing his candidacy for next year’s election on Wednesday.

The 39-year-old revealed he would run for the post again at a speech in the Jordanian capital Amman, Reuters reported.

“Let me be clear,” he said. “I want to finish what we started.”

Ali was defeated in May by incumbent president Sepp Blatter, who won his fifth consecutive term as head of the scandal-plagued organization. Blatter resigned soon afterward as a massive corruption probe implicated several top FIFA officials.

Blatter said he resigned in order to “protect FIFA” but has insisted that he himself is “clean.”

Ali said his agenda will focus on reforming the sporting body and ensuring that corruption is rooted out.

“It is only through new leadership that FIFA can change I do not believe that FIFA can give this sport back to the people of the world without new leadership, untainted by the practices of the past,” he said.

Ali, who lost the last election to Blatter by a margin of 133-73, now finds himself up against European soccer chief and former ally Michel Platini — who he dismissed as being a “Blatter protégé” — and South Korean billionaire and FIFA’s honorary vice president Chung Mong-joon.

“The important thing is to have a new beginning and to have new ideas and therefore any candidate who has been in the organization for a long time is not what is needed at this time,” the Jordanian royal explained.

Liberia’s Musa Bility, former Trinidad and Tobago player David Nakhid and retired Brazilian soccer star Zico have also declared their candidacy for the upcoming election, slated for Feb. 26, 2016.

Read next: These Are the 5 Facts That Explain the FIFA Scandal

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