By Andrew Warshaw
October 26 – European football chiefs hold last-ditch talks on Monday aimed at averting the risk being left in the political wilderness for years.
With the deadline for nominations for FIFA president set for midnight the same day European time, UEFA are urgently debating whether to gamble and remain loyal to their suspended leader Michel Platini or put in place a plan B and back an alternative candidate to succeed Sepp Blatter.
With Platini’s 90-day suspension highly likely to be extended by ethics investigators before the February 26 election, UEFA have to decide whether to shoehorn Dutch FA boss Michael van Praag, who was contender last time but withdrew before the ballot, into the latest race or do a deal with a non-European candidate. Unless, that is, UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino’s name is put forward, a rumoured move that was gathering momentum ahead of the emergency discussions when Infantino’s surprise candidacy was apparently being proposed.
Otherwise the options are limited. Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who UEFA backed last May as the anti-Blatter candidate, has ruffled too many European feathers with a series of harsh verbal attacks on Platini. Asian football chief Sheikh Salman of Bahrain, who is reported to be seriously considering standing, has been accused of human rights violations back home though he vehemently denies any involvement. Tokyo Sexwale, the former Robben Island prisoner turned highly successful businessman, has just joined the campaign but the UEFA hierarchy may not feel he has sufficient backing outside Africa.
The only current eligible European contender is former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne but he is seen by UEFA as being too close to Blatter while former Trinidad and Tobago captain David Nakhid is a rank outsider.
Heaping even more embarrassment on UEFA is the fact that Platini’s temporary stand-in, Spain’s Angel Villar Llona, is awaiting sentence himself after being investigated himself over the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process.
“This is a seriously worrying situation for Europe,” one UEFA executive committee member told Insideworldfootball. “We are having a conference call and desperately need to decide on a strategy. Otherwise we risk being seriously left behind.”
Gambling on Platini clearing his name is rapidly losing momentum amid growing indications that the UEFA chief may never be able to return. Platini is appealing against his provisional suspension for receiving SFr2 million in 2011 for work carried out nine years earlier when he was Blatter’s adviser. UEFA are pushing for the appeals process to be cleared up by mid-November but that could backfire if the Frenchman is banned for even longer.
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