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By Bloomberg

FIFA’s leadership inhabits a world of private jets and vanity film projects, excesses that soccer’s governing body should end, said one of the men attempting to oust four-term President Sepp Blatter.

Michael van Praag, the head of the Dutch federation, wants more of the $5 billion collected from the World Cup to go to national governing bodies instead of projects like the $27 million movie about the men, including Blatter, who have led the Zurich-based organization.

FIFA is richer than any of sport’s other global governing bodies with the exception of the International Olympic Committee. Like Blatter’s other challengers -- Jordan’s Prince Ali bin al Hussein and former World Player of the Year Luis Figo -- Van Praag is promising to divert more cash from the headquarters to FIFA’s 209 national associations. Each federation has a vote in May’s election.

“FIFA should not spend its money on all kinds of items like movies or private jets for the president because at the end of the day it’s the associations’ money, nobody else’s,” Van Praag, a bespectacled 67-year-old, said after making a pitch to South American officials in the Paraguayan capital Asuncion.

Blatter, who turned 79 yesterday, was also there for the regional body’s annual meeting. He arrived by private jet and rode in a presidential helicopter to lunch with Paraguay’s leader Horacio Cartes. Blatter declined to comment on his re- election bid.

‘United Passions’

FIFA was the main backer for a movie, “United Passions,” which celebrated executives and featured “Pulp Fiction” actor Tim Roth as Blatter. Members of FIFA’s own executive board including vice president Jim Boyce said they didn’t know about the development of the film, which has brought in about $200,000 since its May premier at the Cannes film festival, according to Rentrak, which follows movie box office income.

FIFA has spent millions of dollars each year on events including singer Grace Jones serenading FIFA’s board.

“FIFA should be like any other organization today: lean, mean and clean,” Van Praag said, turning to an assistant to see if he’d delivered the slogan correctly.

This year each federation will receive a $250,000 annual grant as well as a one-time $500,000 bonus from profits linked to the 2014 World Cup. Van Praag wants to increase the ordinary annual payment to $1 million, while Figo plans to strip FIFA’s reserves by $1 billion as part of a $2.5 billion giveaway to the national bodies. Figo’s plans are just “rhetoric, propaganda,” Van Praag said. He’d keep $1 billion in reserve.

Freedom to Spend

Still, more cash may mean more trouble for FIFA. Officials at several national associations have been probed for misspending FIFA income, including in Nepal, where the government is investigating the leadership.

“When you give money to a member of course they have freedom to do with it what they want,” Van Praag said. “If you are FIFA you have to look over your shoulder to see how it’s spent.”

In less than two decades, FIFA’s cash reserve has grown from almost nothing to $1.43 billion, almost double the amount held by the IOC. The governing body says money is a safeguard in case a catastrophe leads to the cancellation of the World Cup, responsible for more than 90 percent of its income.

“FIFA must have a significant reserve to sustain its programs even without a World Cup cycle,” FIFA Vice President Jeffrey Webb, who is also head of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, said in an interview. “Whether it should be $1 billion, or $1.5 billion or $2 billion, that is to be debated.”

European Champions

Van Praag was Ajax chairman for 14 years, guiding the Dutch club through one of its most successful periods. It won the 1992 UEFA Cup, the 1995 Champions League and the 1995 UEFA Super Cup, all with current Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal.

Van Praag left in 2003 and took over the national association five years later. His wealth is estimated at 10 million euros ($10.8 million) by Dutch financial magazine Quote, partly from the 2005 sale of a chain of tax-free electronics shops he co-founded.

The Dutchman said he told Blatter at a meeting in Brazil last year that he shouldn’t seek re-election.

“In the last eight or nine years, FIFA has built an ugly reputation, not only in the press but you only have to look at Twitter -- #FIFA #Blatter #FIFA Mafia,” he said at the time.

Van Praag -- like Figo and Prince Ali -- wants to increase the size of the World Cup from its current 32-team format favored by Blatter. He proposes a 40-team tournament with one more place for each region and automatic qualification for the defending champion. Figo wants as many as 48, while Ali has yet to go public with a figure.

Long Shots

Extra spots “might be popular from the election standpoint but we have to think about the quality of it,” Webb said.

Van Praag is a long shot to get the top job. Blatter -- who has endorsements from confederation heads in Africa, Oceania and Asia -- is a 1-16 favorite to retain the job. That means a successful $16 bet at bookmaker William Hill would return $1 and the original stake.

Ali and Figo are higher profile. Figo has 12-1 odds and Prince Ali is 20-1, while Van Praag is 16-1. Those two are backed by European soccer’s governing body and share the same London-based public relations company Vero. Vero also supported Qatar’s successful bid to stage the 2022 World Cup, a decision that continues to bring debate.

Van Praag said he rejected an offer from Vero to represent him too, saying he found it “strange” that rival candidates hired the same firm.

“I do not want to be linked to UEFA,” he said. “I’m an independent candidate.”

A spokesman for Figo said Vero’s assistance was limited. Ali’s team didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Van Praag is hoping the anonymous vote may tempt officials to break from pacts to support Blatter.

“Maybe people change their mind,” Van Praag said. “At the end of the day the elections are secret. You have to go to a booth and there’s this sheet of paper and you have to cross, that’s it.”