UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino's bid for the FIFA presidency "with the aim of leading the world football body out of the worst graft scandal in its history was boosted on Friday" when the Swiss lawyer as reported by SBD Global won "overwhelming" backing from Europe's football associations, according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. Infantino, initially seen as a stop-gap candidate, said that "he was confident of winning the Feb. 26 election and dispelled the suggestion of a deal that would involve him withdrawing."
The 45-year-old entered the race to succeed disgraced President Sepp Blatter after UEFA head and FIFA presidential candidate Michel Platini "was suspended pending an ethics investigation in October." UEFA also said that "in a statement it would not schedule a presidential election to replace Platini until the Frenchman's appeal process had been completed" (REUTERS, 1/22). In London, Owen Gibson wrote the UEFA exec committee "confirmed its unanimous support for the Swiss-Italian and said in a statement he enjoyed the overwhelming support of the majority of its 54 members." Infantino: "I am very honored for the support I received. I am also much more responsible now than I was before these meetings." By suspending a decision on whether to replace Platini permanently, UEFA and Infantino also "keep their options open" until after the FIFA presidential election.
Infantino added that "he had not cut any deals with the other candidates" (GUARDIAN, 1/22). The PA reported FA Vice-Chair David Gill said that Infantino "is his personal choice to run FIFA." Gill said, "I know four of the candidates, I don't know Mr. (Tokyo) Sexwale personally, but knowing the others, for me -- and this is a personal view -- Gianni Infantino is the stand-out candidate. Why do I say that? He's very experienced, has run a confederation. He's used to looking after political and governance matters, he's used to looking after large and small countries and clubs, he's used to looking after competitions, national teams and clubs, you translate that to running FIFA. ... I believe he has the personality, language skills, the appetite and the knowledge to do that and that's my personal view" (PA, 1/24).
ALI CONFIDENT: The AP reported Prince Ali bin al-Hussein "is confident he can win the FIFA presidential election and turn around what he says is a critical situation facing football's governing body." He told reporters in New Zealand on Friday that "he believes he will win on Feb. 26 in Zurich."
The 40-year-old Jordanian lost to Blatter by 133 votes to 73 in a presidential election in May, before Blatter was banned for eight years.
Prince Ali said, "I am fully confident I will win this if things are conducted properly. Across the world the weight has been lifted off of people's shoulders. People want to be proud of being part of this organization again and, without going into specifics on numbers, I'm building on what (votes) had last time around" (AP, 1/23).
GOAL-LINE TECH: In London, Tony Barrett wrote Infantino said that UEFA "approved the use of goalline technology in its competitions, starting with this year’s European Championships in France."
The technology, which is already employed in the Premier League, Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1, "has never been used" at a leading UEFA tournament. Infantino said, "We looked at it seriously and finally we decided to start with Euro [2016] and then move on to the Champions League. Now we are going to look at how to implement it" (LONDON TIMES, 1/23).
