FIFA presidential candidate Gianni Infantino said that he believes he can win February's vote to replace Sepp Blatter at the helm of the crisis-hit global football body after "picking up what he called major support in the Caribbean," according to Simon Evans of REUTERS. Infantino attended a meeting on Sunday of the Caribbean Football Union, which has 25 votes in the election, and "won the backing" of Barbados FA President Randy Harris. He said that he had "excellent feedback" from CFU members. Infantino, who is currently UEFA general secretary, "dismissed speculation of a deal" with Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa. Infantino said, "I am going for the win. I am the candidate for the presidency and this support gives me even more responsibility and even more will to go until the end to become president of FIFA" (REUTERS, 1/18).
CANDIDATES AT ODDS: WORLD SOCCER's Keir Radnedge reported the "first sign of a crack in the polite public facade of the FIFA election campaign" has appeared with Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan complaining about the strategy of Sheikh Salman. Sheikh Salman "sailed close to the regulatory wind" when he signed a cooperation deal in Rwanda on Friday with the Confederation of African Football. In a statement, Prince Ali said, "Africa's proud football associations are not for sale and development resources belonging to national football associations should not be used by presidential candidates and confederation presidents for political expediency" (WORLD SOCCER, 1/18).
HAYATOU: The AFP reported FIFA's acting President Issa Hayatou has "given up some of his powers" as CAF leader ahead of the increasingly controversial election campaign to head football's world body. Hayatou will leave CAF's handling of the FIFA election and relations with "other regional confederations" to his two VPs. CAF spokesperson Junior Binyam said, "The resident, in agreement with the executive committee, just wants to exclusively wear his FIFA hat in handling the election for which the final phase will start on January 26 with the final list of candidates" (AFP, 1/18).
