By Andrew Warshaw
February 19 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has scrapped its regional summit scheduled for the eve of next week’s FIFA presidential election in Zurich, fuelling the ever intriguing rumour mill and conspiracy theories over whether some kind of last-minute unexpected move is in the offing.
Insideworldfootball has learned that emails have been sent to the AFC executive committee and member federations informing them that the meeting, the equivalent of a mini-congress, has been cancelled because all relevant business was conducted at this week’s gathering in Kuala Lumpur where Asian delegates discussed FIFA’s reform proposals.
Federations, who were also present for a series of operational meetings, were urged by Richard Lai, the AFC marketing committee chairman from Guam, to adopt the proposals and ensure the AFC was at the forefront of the change by casting their votes for Sheikh Salman on February 26.
Shaikh Salman was not present in Kuala Lumpur but was meeting with constituents in Zurich. In his absence Gianni Infantino, his main rival for Blatter’s job, flew into the Malaysian capital and took the opportunity to hold a series of private lobbying meetings with senior AFC officials.
So far, the AFC are the only confederation to have called off their eve-of-election summit, traditionally the final opportunity for federations to fine-tune their voting strategy and for candidates, if allowed, to make presentations. UEFA, CONCACAF, the Confederation of African Football and CONMEBOL are all believed to be going ahead with their Zurich meetings even though some of them have also, like Asia, only just convened in their own territories.
The rumour mill focuses around Shaikh Salman who is reckoned to be the current leader in the race for FIFA House. Not all the rumours make sense but they make for a good tale.
One interpretation of the AFC’s surprise move is that Sheikh Salman will be busy campaigning elsewhere in Zurich at the same time. Another is that Asia’s top brass are uncomfortable with the prospect of the federations being wooed and cajoled by rival candidates.
A third interpretation, laughed off by Salman’s camp as being completely ludicrous, is that he is secretly preparing to deliver a bombshell by withdrawing from the race because of unsubstantiated yet persistent rumours about his human rights record, with Asian support switching to Infantino.
The bottom line, perhaps, is that FIFA presidential elections are notoriously full of mischief, dark forces and perceived smear campaigns. Unless you are a fly on a wall in the corridors of power, it is often impossible to separate the facts from the misinformation.
What does seem clear is that the campaign is getting murkier and murkier by the day with observers saying that old-style confederation horse-trading looks set to play a significant role as Sheikh Salman, Infantino and Prince Ali bin al-Hussein all make their final pitches.
If that does a disservice to Jerome Champagne and Tokyo Sexwale, the growing likelihood, despite some of the former’s laudable ideas, is that they will ultimately be there to make up the numbers and help swing votes to their preferred alternative candidate.
That is, if Sexwale even reaches the first round.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734830984labto1734830984ofdlr1734830984owedi1734830984sni@w1734830984ahsra1734830984w.wer1734830984dna1734830984
