Former Nigeria international Segun Odegbami has announced his intention to become the next Fifa president.

The 63-year-old, who won the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations as a player, is the second African to go for football’s top job, after Liberia’s Musa Bility.

“Africa must play a big role in world football,” Odegbami told BBC Sport.

Brazil great Zico and former Trinidad and Tobago international David Nakhid have also declared their intentions, with a third African – South Africa’s Tokyo Sexwale – also considering a bid.

Swiss Blatter announced he was stepping down in June after football’s world governing body was plunged into crisis in late May, when nine Fifa officials were indicted on corruption charges by United States authorities.

Odegbami’s pronouncement has been widely welcomed by football fans and supporters across Nigeria both home and abroad.

According to Chief Bimbo Folayan-Roberts, Former Chairman Central Associations of Nigerians in the UK (CANUK), “Segun Odegbami is not only just a footballer and sportsman of repute, he is a decent man by all standards. He understands the game of soccer and has earned a reputation as a man of integrity. Not only that, he is from a continent that is football crazy. Nigerians love football to death and are reputed to understand the Premiership and other major leagues even more than the owners in the countries of origin. Its time to get an African to lead this important body and our Segun will make a difference”

Elections will be held on 26 February 2016, with UEFA chief Michel Platini and South Korea’s Chung Mong-joon among those to have already announced their bids.

Excerpted from BBC News (bbc.co.uk)

September 2015