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Toby Alderweireld has said former Belgium team-mate and Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany could one day become FIFA president. The ex-defender feels football urgently needs a genuine football person at the top to protect the sport’s traditions and stop commercial interests from taking over.

Alderweireld backs Kompany for FIFA presidency

Former Belgium defender Alderweireld has identified Bayern boss Kompany as his preferred choice to lead FIFA in the future. The former Tottenham centre-back believes the world governing body needs someone in charge who comes from a real football background.

Kompany is currently in charge of the German giants, where he has already won back-to-back Bundesliga titles. The 40-year-old earlier enjoyed an outstanding playing career, collecting major honours during his time in England and Belgium. Having played together 47 times as part of Belgium’s defence, Alderweireld says his former team-mate has exactly the right vision to oversee the game.

‘He would be my president, always’

Alderweireld said Kompany had long shown a desire to shape football beyond his work on the pitch, even though a move into management was not something he had initially expected during Kompany’s playing career.

“Who would be my pick to be the next president of FIFA? Vincent Kompany,” Alderweireld told Hajper. “I never thought before that he wanted to become a manager. He always talked about going on a mission to change football but maybe it’s his mission to protect football. He would be my president, always.”

Protecting tradition against commercial interests

The endorsement comes at a time of broader criticism of current FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who came through administrative roles at UEFA rather than from a professional playing career. Alderweireld believes football administrators often do not have the understanding required to preserve the culture of the game.

“It’s very important that the FIFA president is someone who played the game and knows the game,” he added. “We've all been a fan. Then we've become a football player. We know both sides. When I was a child, I went to all the away games on the bus. We're not just people who made good money out of playing in the Premier League and Champions League.

“We’re football fans too. We played the game. We know how it is. What it is to be a player and a fan. The one thing that's very important is that the person who's doing the talking should be a football guy because look at the World Cup. A 20-minute show at half-time? That’s where you need someone who knows football to say no.

“The most beautiful thing about the sport is its traditions. New things have their place too but we need to protect the traditions as well and that’s why you need football players, football people who have been around the game, to keep the businessmen in check.”

Keeping businessmen in check in future

Alderweireld underlined that if football’s long-standing heritage is to be preserved, former players must have a place at the highest level of governance so that commercial ambition is balanced with traditional values.

Although Kompany is currently concentrated on his managerial role at Bayern, Alderweireld is convinced that his former captain is meant to step forward and protect the global game when the moment arrives.