Former Brazil coach and player Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo said Wednesday he is getting into football politics in Brazil to help the national team prepare for the 2014 World Cup.
Zagallo said he is a candidate to be one of the five vice presidents at the Brazilian football federation because he thinks his experience can be useful for Brazil at the World Cup the country will host.
The 80-year-old Zagallo said he will be able to help the national team from up close if he is elected to the federation.
''I can be useful to the team which will play in the World Cup,'' Zagallo said. ''Brazilian football would benefit. It would be my last World Cup and nobody else in my place would be able to collaborate as much because I have the knowledge of being there.''
Zagallo won the World Cup as a player in 1958 and 1962, as a coach in 1970 and as an assistant coach in 1994. He also coached Brazil to the final of the 1998 World Cup, when it lost to host France.
''I'm doing this for Brazil,'' Zagallo said. ''I would like to end my career as world champion again. I'm a Brazilian with four world championships and I would like to finish on a high at Maracana in 2014.''
Maracana stadium will host the final of the World Cup being played in Brazil for the first time since 1950.
''We have to win this World Cup,'' Zagallo said. ''This is my opportunity, my last chance to help Brazil win its sixth world title.''
Zagallo would be the vice president for the south-central region if elected. He will compete against Sao Paulo federation president Marco Polo del Nero, who recently replaced Ricardo Teixeira as a member of FIFA's executive committee.
The elder vice president replaces the president if needed, and Zagallo would become the next in line if elected.
The 79-year-old Jose Maria Marin became the current president after Teixeira resigned citing health problems earlier this year amid allegations of irregularities in Brazil and abroad.
Zagallo was suggested as candidate by the Rio de Janeiro state federation, which hopes to gain power with the election of the popular former coach. The local federations have been vying for a share of power since Teixeira left after a 23-year stint running Brazilian football.
Representatives of the 27 state federations and the 20 clubs playing in Brazil's top league will have a vote in the election, which is yet to be scheduled.
The vice presidency has been open since Marin replaced Teixeira.
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