By Paul Nicholson in Zurich
February 25 – The FIFA presidential voting alignments took an unexpected shift today with Brazil rumoured to be moving their allegiance away from UEFA’s candidate Gianni Infantino towards Bahraini Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa.
Such a move would signify a crack in the “unanimous” support pledged by South American confederation CONMEBOL for Infantino at the end of January.
The news for Infantino could get worse as Argentina are strongly rumoured to be similarly considering shifting their support.
A change in the thinking of the leading two federations in the region could spark a crumbling of the CONMEBOL block vote as other nations weigh up their options and re-examine where the best deal for them lies. Brazil’s CBF are reported to have had a number of federations say they are rethinking their position.
Reports in Brazil are that the suspended Brazilian FA president Marco Polo del Nero had been in touch with other presidents in the region to discuss the issue.
CONMEBOL has had its last three presidents arrested by the US Department of Justice on allegations of money laundering, bribery and kickbacks over commercial rights to major tournament in the region, including the Copa America and Copa Libertadores.
The confederation has worked to institute a reform of its own statutes and operational procedures and has expressed a desire to be seen to be at the forefront of the FIFA reform proposals that will get voted on this Friday before the FIFA presidential election.
CONMEBOL’s concern is that they back the winner the election and not be seen as dissidents. But there is also a concern of reprisals if they do switch allegiances.
The unknown in this regard is any potential role the US may be taking in lobbying the region.
For its part the US Soccer Federation is understood to be behind Gianni Infantino and has been lobbying its closest associates in this regard.
The Central American regional association (UNCAF), like CONMEBOL, had declared block support for Infantino but is not suffering any doubts over where its votes will go.
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