Platini hopes in doubt as Infantino to stand for FIFA presidency

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino dramatically announced that he will stand in the FIFA presidential election, casting doubt over the hopes of Michel Platini as Monday's midnight deadline to submit bids approached.

In a shock development, multilingual Swiss lawyer Infantino, who has been UEFA's General Secretary since 2009, entered the running to succeed Sepp Blatter with the "full backing" of UEFA's Executive Committee, taking the total number of declared candidates to seven.

And that announcement would appear to place Platini, the UEFA president who is currently serving a 90-day ban as investigations continue into a $2 million payment received from FIFA in 2011 without a written contract, in an uncomfortable position.

"We believe that Gianni Infantino has all of the qualities required to tackle the major challenges ahead and to lead the organization on a path of reform to restore FIFA's integrity and credibility," said UEFA.

"We are delighted that Gianni has agreed to stand and he knows that he has our full support in his campaign to become FIFA President."

Erstwhile favorite Platini officially remains a contender pending an examination of his candidacy when his ban ends on January 5.

But it remains to be seen whether he has now lost all support from his own organization or whether Infantino is being presented by UEFA as a Plan B in case the former France star is prevented from standing.

Another potential pitfall for Platini is that FIFA's electoral committee must judge the integrity of all candidates, and it remains to be seen if their evaluation will be influenced by his ban.

Meanwhile, Asian football chief Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa officially announced that he had entered the race to succeed Blatter.

The 49-year-old Bahraini royal has been the head of the Asian Football Confederation since 2013 and is familiar with FIFA from his role as a vice-president. He previously supported Platini's bid.

However, even without Infantino's announcement, his chances of receiving the backing of European federations may not have been helped by the fact he has been heavily criticized by human rights campaigners for his role in suppressing pro-democracy demonstrations in Bahrain in 2011.

Another heavyweight candidate to come forward is Tokyo Sexwale, the 62-year-old South African anti-apartheid campaigner who was once jailed alongside Nelson Mandela, serving 13 years of an 18-year sentence on Robben Island on terrorism charges.

His non-footballing background could serve as an asset but also as a handicap, given that it is the presidents of FIFA's 209 member federations who elect the president.

A member of South Africa's 2010 World Cup bid team, he serves on FIFA's anti-racism and anti-discrimination committee and is also a FIFA media committee member.

The outsiders
 
Other confirmed candidates include the Jordanian Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, the 39-year-old brother of Jordan's King Abdullah who was the only adversary to Blatter at the election in May this year and can boast that he took the veteran Swiss to a second round of voting before withdrawing.

But on that occasion he had the backing of UEFA, something he is likely to have to do without this time.

French former diplomat Jerome Champagne, 57, spent 11 years working for FIFA between 1999 and 2010. Unlike during his previous bid in May, he has managed to get the five signatures from national associations needed.

But he appears to lack the necessary clout, a problem also faced by David Nakhid, the former Trinidad and Tobago captain who once played for Swiss side Grasshoppers Zurich.

Champagne, who resides in Zurich, believes his long experience of working for FIFA does not represent a handicap to his bid.

"To carry out these reforms, we need someone who knows the organization from the inside and that is the case with me. The 11 years that I spent there are not a handicap, on the contrary," he declared when announcing his bid.

More names are likely to come forward before the deadline, with FIFA's electoral committee set to meet on Tuesday to study each bid and the integrity of the candidates, with the exception of Platini, who must wait until the end of his ban.

One name which will be missing will be that of South Korean businessman Chung Mong-Joon, who announced on Monday that he was withdrawing because of a six-year ban imposed on him by FIFA's ethics committee. — Agence France-Presse