The election to select the next president of FIFA "is a month away," according to Sam Borden of the N.Y. TIMES. On Feb. 26, a special -- "the official word is extraordinary" -- congress of FIFA’s 209 member associations will be held in Zurich, and the successor to the now-suspended Sepp Blatter will be chosen. Here "is a look at the state of the race with a month to go."
It is not really "a five-man competition." Technically, "there are five candidates:" Gianni Infantino of Switzerland; Tokyo Sexwale of South Africa; Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain; Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan; and Jérôme Champagne of France. But the reality is that "the scale of the candidates’ campaigns and the breakdown of the voting countries, who are grouped in largely continental geographic confederations," point toward either Infantino or Sheikh Salman winning. To win on the first ballot, a candidate "needs two-thirds of the votes, or 139." On subsequent ballots, "a candidate needs only a simple majority." Several officials "who are closely following the campaigns, when asked to appraise the potential support each candidate would have if the election were held today," gave this rough approximation: Sheikh Salman has about 80 to 90 votes, Infantino has 70 to 80 votes, Prince Ali has around 30 votes, and the other two candidates have around five votes each.
The voting "will be less predictable." Previously, bloc voting among the confederations "was common." This time, however, "support within each confederation is more scattered." Prince Ali "could be a kingmaker."
If he finishes in third place after the first ballot, it is possible that "he could endorse one of the other candidates and ask his segment of voters to switch their support." A deal "is possible."
From the very beginning, there has been speculation that Infantino and Sheikh Salman "would campaign hard and then, shortly before the election, agree on a deal in which the one with more obvious support would remain on the ballot and the one trailing would step aside, perhaps to fill the vacant No. 2 role of FIFA general secretary."
This "now seems less likely," if only because those close to Infantino believe he is capable of beating Sheikh Salman outright (N.Y. TIMES, 1/26).
NO DEAL: SKY SPORTS' Kaveh Solhekol wrote Sheikh Salman "is prepared to do a deal" with Infantino in order to become the next FIFA president. Sheikh Salman and the Asian Football Confederation initially backed UEFA President Michel Platini for the FIFA presidency but Sheikh Salman "decided to stand when it became clear Platini would not be able to run after he was implicated in a corruption scandal." Salman said, "My relations with Europe are very close. If they want to sit and find a solution, then why not? We cannot say no to anything. We will support whatever is good for the organization. I have worked with Gianni for the past few years. So far there's no agreement and no deal but let's see what happens in the next few days." Infantino appeared to rule out the possibility of doing a deal with any of the other four candidates last Friday and said he was "confident of winning on his own." Speaking after the UEFA exec committee meeting, he said, "There is no question of any deals. I am a candidate for the FIFA presidency until the end" (SKY SPORTS, 1/25).
CHAMPAGNE BACKS U.S.: The AP reported Champagne said that the U.S. "should directly get to host the 2022 World Cup if Qatar is stripped of the tournament."
The '18 and '22 bidding contests "are under scrutiny by Switzerland's attorney general."
Champagne told French radio station RTL on Tuesday that FIFA "should give hosting rights to the second-place bidder if corruption is proven linked to Qatar's win" (AP, 1/26). REUTERS' Mike Collett wrote a planned televised debate involving the men battling to become the next president of FIFA "descended into farce" on Monday after all but one candidate withdrew amid talk of "political interference." Champagne "will now be the only one of the five to address the forum in Brussels, jointly organized by the New FIFA Now pressure group and the European Parliament's Sports Intergroup" (REUTERS, 1/25).
