FIFA presidential election: The key facts in race to replace Sepp Blatter. Presidential hopeful Prince Ali bin al-Hussein says the FIFA election is a key moment in the governing body’s history. One of the most important elections in FIFA’s history takes place on Feb. 26, when officials vote on who should replace former president Sepp Blatter. fifa coins With world football’s governing body embroiled in a continuing corruption crisis, five candidates are vying for the top job. Here, we take a look at 10 key things about the election.
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein plans to test Fifa’s resistance to transparent voting booths by having some sent to Zurich in time for Friday’s presidential election. Football’s world governing body has dismissed a request from Prince Ali for transparent voting booths to be used when the successor to Sepp Blatter is elected. Fifa, which is this week expected to vote for wide scale reforms to ensure openness and guard against the corruption that has engulfed it, insists it is sufficient for delegates from the 209 voting nations to hand over cameras and mobile phones before entering the booths.
Nine months ago, just before the last election for FIFA president, the United States Soccer Federation publicly endorsed Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan in his race against Sepp Blatter, the longtime and much-maligned incumbent who would go on to win re-election easily. At the time, U.S. Soccer’s endorsement was seen as a bold show of protest against the status quo within the scandal-hit governing body. This week, with Mr. Blatter suspended and five candidates, including Prince Ali, vying to replace him, U.S. Soccer is planning to avoid a public endorsement.
Barring a late change in that strategy, when the delegate from U.S. Soccer enters the voting booth on Friday morning in Zurich — the federation’s representative will be Don Garber, the commissioner of Major League Soccer — his choice most likely will be known only to a handful of U.S. Soccer officials. Five candidates are running to replace the suspended Sepp Blatter: the president of the Asian Football Confederation, Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa of Bahrain; FIFA Vice-President, Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan; former FIFA executive, Jérôme Champagne of France; Tokyo Sexwale, of South Africa; and UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino of Switzerland.
Last year, all 11 Oceania nations pledged their support for Blatter before New Zealand broke ranks and voted for Prince Ali. The president of the Solomon Islands Football Federation William Lai said Oceania members will meet on Thursday in Switzerland ahead of the vote a day later. He said each country was free to vote as they wished but he hoped the would be on the same page. “I think we have an executive meeting before the five candidates will present to us. Whether we vote for as a confederation together or we’re going to split I don’t know but it’s a democracy so any country can lend their support to what they believe in, in a new FIFA President.” Mr Lai hoped whichever way Oceania voted they back the winning candidate, although he said whoever gets in wants to do the best for the global game.
Last year you probably would have been in on goal there,” says Channon. “We’re just tightening everything up a little bit.” fifa 16 coins FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, its membership now comprises 209 national associations. Member countries must each also be members of one of the six regional confederations into which the world is divided: Africa, Asia, Europe, North & Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania and South America.