![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Arthur-Zico-fifa.jpg\")
Brazilian footballing legend Zico confirmed Wednesday his intention to stand for FIFA president, after Sepp Blatter announced last week he was stepping down from the position.<\/h1>\nBrazilian footballing legend Zico confirmed Wednesday his intention to stand for FIFA president, after Sepp Blatter announced last week he was stepping down from the position.<\/h1>\n“I see it as my duty to use my experience and knowledge to try to run for the presidency,” the 62-year-old football coach and former midfielder told a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, adding “I feel I am capable of doing this.”<\/p>\n
Zico, whose real name is Arthur Antunes Coimbra, had previously said that he was mulling a run for the post, but was concerned he may struggle to find enough support, as candidates need the backing of at least five football federations.<\/p>\n
But Wednesday’s announcement came with more confidence, and a warning that the election needed to change to rid the sport of corruption.<\/p>\n
“It’s sad for our sport to see what is happening in football today,” Zico said, accusing the current process of fomenting corruption.<\/p>\n
Blatter announced June 2 that despite his re-election to a fifth term as president four days earlier, he would be stepping down from the position he has held since 1998.<\/p>\n
It followed a U.S. investigation that resulted in 14 FIFA officials indicted on bribery and racketeering charges. Seven of the officials were arrested in Zurich two days before Blatter’s re-election — among them former Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) president Jos\u00e9 Maria Marin.<\/p>\n
The Swiss authorities also launched an investigation into how the 2018 and 2022 World Cups — currently set to be held Russia and Qatar — were awarded.<\/p>\n
Brazil, which hosted the 2014 World Cup, has also launched two inquiries — one criminal, one congressional — to establish whether any crimes alleged by the FBI’s investigation were committed on Brazilian soil, and to investigate the CBF.<\/p>\n
Zico is considered one of the greatest players in football history, representing Brazil at the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cup finals. He has since worked as a coach, starting at Rio’s Flamengo football club and moving on to manage international teams, including stints in Japan, Russia, Iraq and Turkey (Ben Tavener \/ Anadolu Agency).<\/p>\nError, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 14)<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Brazilian footballing legend Zico confirmed Wednesday his intention to stand for FIFA president, after Sepp Blatter announced last week he was stepping down from the position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,135,127],"tags":[76816,2770,2768,21775,2681,76811],"class_list":["post-57222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-football","category-sport","tag-fifa-presidency","tag-fifa-president","tag-fifa-president-joseph-blatter","tag-jose-maria-marin","tag-sepp-blatter","tag-sepp-blatter-fifa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}