Platini status in doubt as FIFA retains poll date
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FIFA decided yesterday to stick with its presidential election date in February, as uncertainty surrounded Michel Platini’s candidacy and Asia’s top soccer official edged closer to entering the race.
With no clear timetable for Platini to challenge his provisional suspension, officials who have supported the UEFA leader’s presidential campaign — such as Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa must now decide whether to also apply by Monday’s deadline.
Yesterday’s FIFA executive committee meeting was the first since FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Platini were suspended two weeks ago.
Blatter had already announced plans to resign before being banned for 90 days amid a FIFA ethics investigation over a 2011 payment of US$2 million to Platini.
The executive committee confirmed yesterday that FIFA will go ahead with the election on February 26. The decision came after an update from election monitor Domenico Scala, whose committee rules on the candidates’ eligibility.
Platini submitted his candidacy ahead of the October 26 deadline but faces being kept out over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs (about US$2 million) from FIFA for work he says was carried out at least nine years earlier.
Platini has challenged his suspension and is awaiting the verdict of the FIFA appeals committee. UEFA is pushing for a swift decision in appeals at FIFA and possibly the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Sheikh Salman, the Asian Football Confederation president from Bahrain, should now enter the race as part of an agreement with UEFA, his key backer said.
“It is a big possibility,” Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, a FIFA executive committee member from Kuwait and longtime Olympic powerbroker, said after a meeting of the ruling panel.
Bahraini royal
Sheikh Salman has also written to his AFC executive committee members saying he has “recently been urged by a growing number of senior” people within the game to run for the FIFA presidency. The Bahraini royal was seeking advice from colleagues before making a decision.
FIFA said its election oversight committee will not rule on Platini’s eligibility as a candidate — including a mandatory integrity check — until “such a ban be lifted or expire before the FIFA presidential election”.
Aside from Platini, former FIFA vice president Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan and former Trinidad and Tobago player David Nakhid have submitted their five required federation nominations.
The FIFA crisis, which was sparked by the arrest of soccer officials in Zurich ahead of Blatter’s re-election in May, led to a reform process being instigated to overhaul how the organization is run.
The reform commission said it was proposing a 12-year term limit for FIFA presidents and an age limit of 74 for the president and executives.
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