Candidates confirmed
October 28, 2015
FIFA, world football's governing body, has confirmed the seven candidates who will stand in the presidential election to be held on February 26, 2016.
The 209 federations will vote for a successor to outgoing president Sepp Blatter who is under criminal investigation. The list of candidates proposed are Tokyo Sexwale, Michel Platini, Jerome Champagne, Gianni Infantino, Musa Bility, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein and Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa.
UEFA president Platini remains suspended for 90 days with Swiss prosecutors investigating claims of a $2 million (1.8 million euro) payment from Blatter in 2011. All six other candidature dossiers have been processed and sent to the Ethics Committee for 'integrity checks', while a judgment on Platini will be made at a later date.
"Should such a ban be lifted or expire before the FIFA presidential election, the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee would decide, depending on the respective exact point in time, on how to proceed with the candidature concerned," the statement read. The status of Infantino's bid to become president is unclear if Platini is allowed to stand at the end of his FIFA suspension.
But former footballer David Nakhid is not included on the list despite submitting his candidacy before the deadline. Candidates need the support of five football associations and it's reported that one of those endorsing the 70-year-old had already backed another campaign.
rd (AFP, dpa)