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Sheikh Salman cleared to stand in five-man race to be Fifa president

Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, the Asian Football Confederation president who has been criticised by human rights campaigners over alleged links to a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy campaigners in Bahrain, has been cleared to stand in February’s Fifa presidential election.
Amid the worst crisis in Fifa’s history, the field to replace Sepp Blatter as president of the embattled world football governing body narrowed to five after Liberia’s Musa Bility was struck out following integrity checks carried out by Fifa’s ad hoc electoral committee.
Fifa’s electoral committee said on Thursday the five approved presidential candidates were Sheikh Salman, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, the former Fifa executive Jérôme Champagne of France, the Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino of Switzerland and the South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale.
It had already said the Uefa president, Michel Platini, who like Blatter is banned from all football activity for 90 days over allegations of a £1.3m “disloyal payment” in 2011, would not be considered until his suspension was over or lifted. If Platini ends up making it onto the ballot on 26 February next year, Infantino plans to step aside.

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