ASIAN football chief Mohamed bin Hammam confirmed yesterday he would run for the FIFA presidency.
He poses the first challenge to Sepp Blatter in nearly a decade.
"Today after careful study, consultation and consideration, armed with my love and passion of our football, believing that our game is about fair competition, I have decided to contest," the Asian Football Confederation president said.
Bin Hammam ended months of speculation about his decision during a news conference streamed online live from the confederation's Kuala Lumpur headquarters.
The Qatari's announcement met an April 1 deadline to declare himself a candidate as he seeks to end his former ally Blatter's 13-year reign as the man running the world's biggest sport.
He needs to be nominated by one of FIFA's 208 national federations, which will vote on June 1 at their congress in Zurich. Blatter has been nominated by Somalia.
The 61-year-old bin Hammam has long held ambitions to lead football's international governing body, which has had just
eight presidents in its 111-year
history.
All were European bar Blatter's predecessor, the long-serving Brazilian Joao Havelange.
His challenge gained fresh momentum last December when FIFA's ruling executive committee chose Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup.
A wealthy businessman with construction interests, bin Hammam held several sports leadership positions in Qatar before Asia elected him to FIFA's high command in 1996.
He primed the 75-year-old Blatter to expect a challenge when he said in February 2010 it was time for FIFA to have Asian leadership.
One month later, his FIFA executive colleagues rejected his motion to limit the terms of future presidents.
The tactic was interpreted as testing Blatter's strength.
Bin Hammam then told journalists that, despite the setback, the "situation can be different" in 2011.
They made peace when Blatter visited the Gulf last April and said the region was ready to host a World Cup.
However, the FIFA president is believed to have backed the United States as the 2022 host. The US was defeated by Qatar in the final round of voting.
Blatter has not been challenged since 2002 when he defeated African confederation president Issa Hayatou by 139 votes to 56.
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