Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam today confirmed he will stand against Sepp Blatter - and that he will offer national associations significant financial incentives to support his challenge.

Beckenbauer, who is stepping down as a FIFA executive member in June, believes the 61-year-old Qatari will find it tough against the veteran Blatter.

He said: "I think this is a dangerous situation because it could split FIFA into two camps.

"One of its strengths has been its unity. It would be sad if that were to happen.

"I think it will be difficult for Bin Hammam. Blatter knows FIFA inside out and he has done a very good job until now."

Bin Hammam revealed he will double the financial support handed out to each of FIFA's 208 member associations to 500,000 US dollars.

He also announced plans to create 17 more executive committee positions on a new 41-strong 'FIFA board' - currently each member receives 100,000 US dollars a year plus handsome expenses.

Bin Hammam, once a loyal Blatter ally, told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur: "I believe my chances are 50-50. Sepp Blatter is an experienced person, he has made significant contribution to football worldwide but I believe there is a time limit for everything. There is now a time for a new face and a new heir."

Offering associations financial inducements is nothing new in FIFA elections - Blatter himself has used previous campaigns to announce extra funds via the GOAL development projects.

The changes to the executive committee are more revolutionary and however impractical a 41-man board may sound, there are plenty of people on the fringes of football power who would relish one of the extra 17 seats.

The last change to the executive committee came in 1996 when the numbers were raised from 21 to 24.

Bin Hammam knows that money talks in football - it was he who was in charge of the extravagantly-funded Qatar bid for the 2022 World Cup that triumphed spectacularly in December.

The Football Association are likely to back Bin Hammam - senior figures inside the organisation, especially from the Premier League, want a change at the top of world football after being disgusted at England's treatment in the campaign for the 2018 World Cup.

Bin Hammam also acknowledged that FIFA' reputation had been badly damaged by the World Cup bidding corruption scandal that saw two FIFA members banned last year.

"I will consider... the demands from the public to keep FIFA and football organisations above accusations and suspicion of negative practice; the demands of the public to create an absolute, ethical, democratic and transparent environment within FIFA," said Bin Hammam.

"I will establish a transparency committee. FIFA has an ethical committee checking acts after they happen. The transparency committee is going to be sure that all the acts of FIFA are sufficiently transparent to the public before they take place."

In relation to the proposed new FIFA board to replace the executive committee he added: "I propose UEFA gets four more seats, CAF four more seats, Asia four more seats, CONCACAF three more seats, CONMEBOL one more seat and OFC one more seat."

The election will take place in Zurich on June 1 and Bin Hammam will travel around the world in the 75 days between now and then trying to drum up support.

His first trip will be to Thailand, and then to Paris for next week's UEFA congress. He will also target China, who have long been supporters of Blatter and who wield much influence in football, especially in Asia where even though it is his own confederation, he cannot be sure of universal support.

Only two months ago, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah of Kuwait said that the 25 Asian countries who voted for Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan on to the FIFA executive committee would "all vote for Blatter".

Blatter has not had a challenger since 2002 when he beat Cameroon's Issa Hayatou in a landslide victory by 139 votes to 56.