Sports Features of Thursday, 11 February 2016

Source: sportscrusader.com

Who is Africa backing for the Fifa Presidency?

Prince Ali Al Hussein Prince Ali Al Hussein

The 66th FIFA extraordinary Congress will take place in Zurich on 26 February 2016, when a new FIFA President will be elected after a surprising resignation of Sepp Blatter in June 2015.

The congress which will also encapsulate various reform topics proposed which includes enhanced centralized integrity checks for Executive Committee members, the introduction of term limits, higher standards of governance at all levels of football structures including confederations and member associations, as well as individual disclosure of compensation.

All the candidates (Prince Ali Al Hussein, Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, Jérôme Champagne, Gianni Infantino, Tokyo Sexwale)have had their candidature approved by the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee as at 9 November 2015.

This has led to all the candidate touring round the world soliciting for support in their bid in becoming the next FIFA President. Not long ago three of the five candidates, who are seeking the nod to be the next FIFA President, were in Accra for General Assembly of the WAFU Zone B.

Sexwale Tokyo who is the only African candidate amongst the contestants has fallen short of Africa’s support especially after CAF’s decision to support Bahrain’s Sheik Salman in the upcoming Presidency race.

Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa who is the President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has virtually won the support from Africa.

Especially when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Executive committee met on 5 February 2016 in Kigali to declare its unanimous support to candidate, Shaikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, current President of the Asian Football Confederation, and a FIFA Vice President especially after the withdrawal of Sexwale Tokyo the only African Candidate.
Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa who has signed a newly announced four-year ‘memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the AFC and CAF which is aimed at improving the development of football in the two confederations has already illuminated the love affair between this two blocs.