Former England footballer Sol Campbell has confirmed he will stand for election to replace Boris Johnson as the Mayor of London next year.

Former Arsenal player Sol Campbell (R) attends the Arsenal’s new kit launch in Singapore

Campbell, who officially retired from football in 2012, will appear at a hustings with the rest of the Conservative party’s candidates on July 4 after revealing over the weekend his intention to stand.

“I’m going in with my eyes wide open. I know I’m not going to be a front-runner,” Campbell, who won 73 England caps and played in three World Cups, was quoted as saying by sunnation.co.uk .

“But I look at people who have been in politics for five, 10, 15 years, and muck up, you see them muck up and think, ‘you guys are supposed to be pro’!”

Campbell joined the Conservative party last year after criticising rival Labour party’s proposed introduction of mansion tax.

The former defender was in the frame to stand in the general elections to replace the retiring Malcolm Rifkind in Kensington before the deputy mayor Lady Victoria Borwick was chosen instead.

“People that have gone to Oxbridge, had thousands spent on their education, and I mean they are royally mucking up,” he said.

“I bring something new to the table. This is a whole new road for me, something I can get my teeth into but I just felt it was something I had to do.”

“I come from a working class background, it wasn’t easy for me at all, but I worked hard. And now it’s about giving something back,” the 40-year-old said.