Cheng joins the race to chair the soccer governing body

• By Jason Pan / Staff reporter

It all comes down to the wire in the battle for the chairmanship of Taiwan soccer’s governing body, the CTFA, after Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) entered the race against two other strong candidates.

The outcome for the highly sought-after position, both in sports and political circles, is to be determined through a vote by CTFA members at a meeting at its headquarters in New Taipei City tomorrow.

The position became open when Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) — a senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member who took over the position in December 2018 — tendered his resignation in August and did not finish his four-year term.

Chiou had pushed to amend the CTFA charter to conform to international standards and a meeting was convened in July to vote on the proposed changes. The proposal fell short by one vote of the two-thirds majority needed for it to pass.

In his resignation letter, Chiou wrote that while CTFA executives and board members supported the proposal, he regretted that he was unable to convince all members to back it, especially on issues relating to gender equality and expanding participation by athletes, schools and soccer clubs in the decision making process.

“It is regrettable as it was my duty as chairman to lead our members and persuade them to approve the amendments. Therefore, after serious consideration, I am resigning to take responsibility,” he wrote.

Cheng, of the DPP, is nearing the end of his second term as Taoyuan mayor and cannot run for re-election. He is widely expected to take a prominent role in a Cabinet reshuffle after the Nov. 26 local elections. However, under the revised National Sports Act (國民體育法), he would not be able to join the Cabinet if he is elected CTFA chairman.

Cheng is in a three-way race, with sports pundits saying he has strong links to the game, including financial backing for teams and soccer projects, his administration’s support for the game, such as providing training grounds, venues and other resources for soccer clubs in the city, including in the top and second divisions of the men’s league, women’s league and in the futsal competition.

Cheng is running against veteran soccer politician Liu Fu-tsai (劉福財), general manager of the men’s league defending champions TSG-Tainan and a successful businessman who provided financial support for the previous Tainan City club and other soccer teams.

He had served as CTFA deputy chair and as an interim chairman for four months in 2015.

The other candidate is Chang Tsan (張璨), news media executive for EBC Network and ETToday News, and chairman of soccer news site Go Goal.

Sports pundits view Chang as a “blue-camp” candidate given his long-term association with EBC and ETToday, which was founded by Gary Wang (王令麟), who had served three terms as a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator.

Chang was nominated by Hang Yuan soccer club, which is headed by businessman and former CTFA chairman Lin Yung-cheng (林湧成), who led the soccer body from 2013 to 2018.