It had previously supported President Michel Platini, however, following the Frenchman’s 90-day suspension by FIFA’s ethics committee, Infantino is now UEFA’s main man after being given unanimous backing by the executive committee.
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“Gianni has done a great job at UEFA, has a proven track record as a top class administrator and built positive relations with football stakeholders around the globe”, it added.
Infantino – who has worked at European football’s governing body for six years – was “humbled and honoured” to have received UEFA’s support and pledged to bring about change within FIFA if elected. He was subsequently appointed as director of legal affairs and club licensing division in 2004.
“Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president, has today informed the AFC Executive Committee that he has put his name forward in the FIFA Presidential Election 2016”, read an AFC statement.
The announcement came on deadline day for candidates to register their nominations for the election of soccer’s crisis-torn governing body which will take place in Zurich on February 26.
Sheikh Salman’s entry has already been criticized by rights groups who urged FIFA’s election committee to reject him as a candidate when it conducts integrity checks in the next two weeks.
Bahraini royal Shaikh Salman, who has been at the helm of the Asian Football Confederation since 2013, announced his bid on Sunday.
The unprecedentedly crowded field includes serious and credible candidates from Africa, Europe and Asia, which will test the strength of Fifa’s traditional continental voting blocs and the alliances within it, perhaps to beyond their limits.
The Guardian has seen a letter from the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy in which it, in 2014, called on Michael Garcia, then head of the investigatory unit of the Federation Internationale de Football Association ethics committee, to investigate Sheikh Salman’s alleged role in “systematically targeting and mistreating athletes who have taken part in anti-government protests”.
Former Trinidad and Tobago midfielder David Nakhid says he has submitted his papers to Federation Internationale de Football Association, along with former Federation Internationale de Football Association deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne and Jordanian Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein.
In addition, Liberian FA chief Musa Bility confirmed to AFP on Monday that he had entered the race, becoming the eighth runner to replace Blatter. Even though I cannot run in this election, I believe there is still much that I can do.
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Fellow presidential candidate Chung Moon-joon, who was at the same time suspended for six years, has chosen to withdraw from the race.
