October 30 – The most powerful official in Asian sport says his continent and Europe should strike a deal to carve up support and avoid going head to head for the right to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president.
Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, who only recently joined the FIFA executive committee but has long been regarded as the region’s kingmaker, says the Asian Football Confederation and UEFA should join forces and thereby reduce the chances of rival candidates in the election on February 26.
Sheikh Ahmad, a leading player in the Olympic movement, says he hopes that suspended UEFA chief Michel Platini would still be able to clear his name to stand but that if he was ruled out, some kind of “coordination” could take place between UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino and AFC president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, already regarded as two of the leading candidates to lead FIFA out of its current crisis.
Sheikh Salman initially backed Platini’s bid and Sheikh Ahmad said he was anxious to avoid a straight fight between Infantino and Asia’s strongest contender.
“I am Asian and Sheikh Salman is the president of Asia and represents Asia…(but) the main support is for Michel Platini. After his case, we have to wait and see what is going to happen,” he said.
“There are a lot of good names (in the election), they are all good names but two of them are starting with the support of a big continent behind them – Gianni and Salman.
“I hope in the end it will not be a difficult situation, I hope there will be a coordination and we will find a solution,”
The suggestion echoes the last FIFA election in May when three UEFA-backed candidates ran against Blatter only for Dutchman Michael van Praag and Portugal’s Luis Figo to withdraw in favour of Jordanian Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein who ultimately lost to the veteran Swiss. With Blatter no longer in the equation, Prince Ali is standing again but his chances would be severely damaged by a Salman-Infantino alliance.
So would those of former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne, who is opposed by UEFA despite being French. Champagne told a conference in Denmark this week that “there is a pre-campaign of arrangements in five star hotels behind closed doors.”
Sheikh Ahmad also added his name to the list of those who believe there is no reason to strip Russia or Qatar of hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups without proof of wrongdoing.
“The president (Sepp Blatter) is suspended, the main candidate (Platini) is suspended. We have shown our seriousness to do it by the book, by our statutes and regulations,” he said.
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