ZURICH — FIFA has approved five candidates for its February presidential election amid the worst crisis in its history, after barring Liberia’s Musa Bility on integrity grounds and leaving out UEFA chief Michel Platini while he remains under suspension.
Platini, the original favorite to succeed Sepp Blatter as head of global soccer’s governing body, was not admitted because he has been suspended for 90 days pending a full Ethics Committee investigation.
FIFA had already announced that it would not process former French international football star while he was suspended, but could review its position if he wins an appeal against the ban.
Buffeted by a series of scandals over the last few years, FIFA was thrown into turmoil in May by the US indictments of 14 football officials, including two FIFA vice presidents, and sports marketing executives for alleged corruption.
Blatter, also suspended for 90 days, is facing criminal investigation in Switzerland over a 2 million Swiss franc ($2.1 million) payment from FIFA to Platini. Both men have denied wrongdoing.
FIFA’s electoral committee said Thursday the five approved presidential candidates were Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, Asian Football Confederation President Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa of Bahrain, former FIFA official Jerome Champagne of France, UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino of Switzerland and South Africa businessman Tokyo Sexwale.
“The integrity check included a review of corporate records, litigation cases, bankruptcy proceedings, potential regulatory actions taken against the candidate and a review of media reports concerning potential red flags (fraudulent behavior, match manipulation, human rights violations, etc.),” the committee said in a statement.
Bility was not admitted “in view of the content of the integrity check report relating to him,” it said.
“For reasons of protection of personality rights, the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee — while it has explained its considerations in detail to Musa Hassan Bility — will not comment publicly on the specifics of its decision.”
The electoral committee said it had “assessed any allegations against the candidates carefully, including those against Shaikh Salman concerning his alleged involvement into the events in Bahrain in 2011.”
It said no evidence of “any personal and direct involvement” by Salman in rights abuses had been found, so the committee had upheld his candidacy.
There are no clear favorites to win the election, in which each of the 209 national associations (FAs) who are affiliated with FIFA hold one vote.
Critics say they are heavily influenced by the continental confederations, such as Europe’s UEFA or Africa’s CAF, which sometimes ask their members to vote as a bloc for one candidate. But as voting is secret, FAs can easily disobey their confederations without being detected, which makes voting unpredictable. Infantino announced his intention to stand only one day before the registration deadline in October, and is expected to withdraw if Platini is allowed back into the race.
‘Blatter out of hospital’
Suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter has been discharged from hospital, his confidant and former publicist Klaus Stoehlker said Thursday.
“He had to stay a few days in hospital but now he is out, he is at home in (the canton of) Valais. He is very happy and he is relaxing a few days until the beginning of next week and then he will be back,” Stoehlker told Reuters TV in an interview. “He’s recovering very fast.”
Blatter had been in hospital since Friday, when his US-based lawyer, Richard Cullen, said the Swiss national had been admitted for a checkup. Under the terms of the suspension, Blatter, 79, who has been the FIFA president since 1998, is not allowed into the FIFA headquarters or any football stadium in an official capacity.
