FIFA Race - Infantino Bids to Erode Salman's Asian Support

(AFR) Around the Rings understands Sheikh Salman's fierce rival Gianni Infantino is in Kuala Lumpur lobbying hard on the Asian football chief's turf.

Infantino, one of five candidates bidding to replace Sepp Blatter in the FIFA election next week, was the only presidential hopeful at Asian Football Confederation headquarters in the Malaysian capital today.

The AFC president, who believes he has most of Asia behind him, was not present while Infantino mixed with the leaders of the confederation’s 46 member associations who gathered on Wednesday to discuss the FIFA reforms they will be asked to vote on in Zurich on Feb. 26.

An AFC Governance Reform Task Group on Tuesday discussed the package of reforms developed by Francois Carrard’s FIFA committee.

Infantino has also been working the fringes, grabbing every opportunity to speak with Asian football federation presidents and secretary generals and may be gaining a little traction.

Three of the other contenders for the FIFA throne, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein and Tokyo Sexwale and Jerome Champagne, were also not in Kuala Lumpur.

While Sheikh Salman criss-crosses the globe in pursuit of votes to secure the FIFA hot seat, ATR understands that football and Olympic powerbroker Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah – the FIFA ExCo member from Kuwait who helped him land the AFC presidency – is stepping up his efforts to lobby for Salman,exploiting his Olympic ties to reach out to FAs.

Sheikh Ahmad, head of the world body of Olympic committees, is a close friend of European Olympic Committees president Pat Hickey. Ahmad was in Ireland a few days ago to lobby Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney.

Interestingly, Infantino lists Ireland as one of his backers.

In his IOC duties and as head of the Olympic Council of Asia, Ahmad is doubtless pushing the case for Salman elsewhere.

Sheikh Salman returns to Europe later this week in a desperate attempt to win some support in the UEFA secretary general’s back yard.

Infantino claims to have endorsements from 46 of Europe’s 54 federations plus backing in South America, CONCACAF and "strong feedback" in Africa. Next stop on the 45-year-old's FIFA mission is a series of meetings with federations in Africa.

After suggesting only last week that Salman might strike an alliance with Infantino and calling for a consensus candidate, namely him, both men have indicated in no uncertain terms in recent days that a partnership is off the table. "This is not a time to do deals," his campaign director tells ATR.

Meanwhile, Champagne announced Wednesday that he had secured Pelé's support for his candidacy.

"I know him. I worked with him. I can trust him," the legendary Brazilian footballer told TV Globo in an interview last night.

Champagne first met Pelé in 1996 when he was a sports minister and the former FIFA executive worked at the French Embassy in Brasilia. They have worked on various other projects during Champagne’s time at FIFA including in support of the organisation of the South Africa 2010 World Cup.

"I warmly thank him for this. It is an immense honor and a huge responsibility," Champagne said in a statement.

Written by Mark Bisson

Homepage photo: Getty

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