Africans come out in favour of Salman for FIFA presidency

Africa’s top brass have officially endorsed Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa’s bid to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president, a massive boost for the Asian football leader but bad news for Africa’s only candidate for the post, Tokyo Sexwale.

Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa

Following a meeting of African soccer leaders in Rwanda, the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) executive committee said it would “fully support” Sheikh Salman in the election on February 26.

Sheikh Salman already has the backing of his own Asian confederation while his closest rival, Gianni Infantino, the UEFA general secretary, has the backing of Europe — or most of it — along with the majority of CONMEBOL’s 10 members and the seven federations comprising the central American regional association UNCAF.

But Africa has the biggest continental grouping among the 209 voting members with 54 nations and is seen as the bloc that could clinch victory for whoever gets its backing.

The announcement was made by Confederation of African Football vice presidents Suketu Patel and Almamy Kabele Camara at a news conference that was eagerly awaited but lasted literally about a minute in a five-star hotel in Kigali, where the CAF executive committee had met earlier Friday.
Patel and Camara left without taking questions, while other exco members declined comment but it is understood the decision to endorse Sheikh Salman was unanimous,

By turning its back on the only African candidate in the five-man field, CAF gave a clear message to Sexwale, the former political prisoner turned mining tycoon who may now withdraw from the contest.

Although CAF executives declared their support for Sheikh Salman, there is nothing to stop African countries voting for someone else though most are expected to tow the party line.

Salman, Infantino, Sexwale and Jerome Champagne were all in Rwanda to campaign. Prince Ali bin al-Hussein decided against travelling, his campaign team said.

Interim FIFA President Issa Hayatou, who is also the president of CAF, attended the meeting in Rwanda but to avoid a conflict of interest delegated the region’s FIFA election responsibilities to his two vice presidents. However, Hayatou, the longtime head of African soccer, had already hinted in an interview with French newspaper L’Equipe that CAF would back Sheikh Salman.

Infantino, who replaced banned UEFA president Michel Platini in the election, will be disappointed not have got CAF onside especially as Hayatou had made it clear he would have backed Platini had the Frenchman still been eligible.

“I am humbled by the support of CAF’s Executive Committee and tremendously encouraged by the unanimous decision to support my bid for the office of FIFA president,” said Shaikh Salman in a statement after the CAF ExCo decision was announced.

“The two endorsements (CAF and the AFC) only mean that there is a strong groundswell in favour of my candidacy. What they don’t mean, is that I can sit back relax. This campaign will be decided on the day of the vote, February 26, 2016, not before. Naturally, I am confident that I now have a reasonably strong position to work from with such support.”

The move to endorse Sheikh Salman seems bound to rekindle scrutiny over a co-operation agreement signed last month between the AFC and CAF and criticised by Prince Ali, who accused his Asian rival of trying to engineer a bloc of African votes in violation of election rules. No action, however, has been taken by the FIFA body monitoring the election process.

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Has FIFA presidential election become a matter of pride for ITUC boss Sharan Burrow? If so, she has betrayed her mandate!

The day of reckoning for the five FIFA presidential aspirants is staring at their faces. February 26 is a week away and the nerves are flying high. AFC president and frontrunner Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, Prince Ali of Jordan, Frenchman Jerome Champagne, South African businessman Tony Sexwale, and Swiss football administrator of Italian origin Gianni Infantino, are hustling towards their goal, all promising to clean up beleaguered FIFA, if elected. It’s a natural objective, considering how badly the governing body is trapped in charges of corruption. The 209 world football associations will decide their fate. Only they have the mandate, but if recent leaks are to be believed, there are outsiders who are conspiring to influence the election.


Global Leaks recently released International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) exposed email trails that contained questionable correspondence to ensure their choice of candidate wins. The emails involved influential figures like ITUC president Sharan Burrow, her communication spin doctor Gemma Swart, ITUC director communication Tim Noonan, and SKIN’s chairman, Jamie Fuller, and former Australian FA member and FIFA whistleblower, Bonita Mersiades.

From misusing funds aimed at damaging Sheikh Salman’s reputation, to showing unabashed support for Prince Ali, Ms Burrow and her Australian colleagues have been found straying from their terms of office. Instead of spending money and time on the millions of struggling workforce around the world, ITUC has conveniently shifted the goal post. It is now playing the role of a corporate lobbyist body.
Swiss magazine Weltwoche picked up the controversial emails and released an article on February 4, which carried Ms Burrow’s vague and weak reaction to the exposure.

With the FIFA elections and the fate of ITUC’s candidate near, Sharan Burrow appears to have taken matters in her own hand, and in her own backyard, in an attempt to salvage lost reputation.

‘The Australian’ published an article on February 14 where Ms Burrow asserted unconvincingly how one particular email in the series is forged. The email was written by Ms Swart and addressed to members of the gang on September 9. It read: “Prince Ali (bin al-Hussein of Jordan) just announced that he may run again (for the presidency). We do benefit if he wins and Sheik Salman loses. We can divert some money for a dis¬information campaign against Salman.”

Jacquelin Magnay of the Australian reports that since Sheikh Salman announced his candidacy only on October 25, how could they have discussed his bid in September? It did not take an official announcement for it to be known that the Sheikh would be in the fray. That is why the argument holds little credibility.

Sharan Burrow’s almost brazen support for Prince Ali in an article on their website on May 22 (http://www.ituc-csi.org/fifa-election-ituc-with-arab?lang=en), when she lobbied FIFA delegates to vote for the Jordanian Prince simply because he ‘promised’ that he would work for human rights, was an extension of her war against Sepp Blatter.

The Prince conceded defeat after losing 133–73 in the first round and withdrew from the race on May 28. However, his hopes of leading FIFA were revived after Blatter resigned on June 1 amid corruption charges. Ms Burrow’s hopes were recharged, too. Backed mainly by European nations and the ITUC general secretary, who would go on to make noise against his would-be opponent, Sheikh Salman, Prince Ali at first remained hesitant about his prospects for running again, but came around and declared his candidacy on September 8.

The next day the ‘email’ was sent. It fits the bill.

Interestingly, Reuters had reported in August itself that Prince Ali could be running again, so it’s not necessarily impossible to know who is likely to stand for FIFA presidency even before official declarations come. Same with Sheikh Salman.

Michel Platini, Prince Ali’s the then opponent, had already begun to face charges of complicity in financial dealing with Blatter and was widely expected to pull out of the race. Sheikh Salman, who hadn’t announced his candidacy, was backing the Frenchman then. (http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-fifa-salman-platini-idUKKCN0QJ1S520150814, dated August 14). But everybody could read the writings on the wall for the UEFA boss and there were voices in the corridors of world football that had begun talking of the possibility that the Bahraini would run, too.
It’s quite possible and logical that the allegedly fabricated email was written in anticipation. It’s also quite probable that the email’s reference to the Bahraini was actually pointing towards the Sheikh’s and Platini’s combined camp.

What’s also interesting to note is the fact that Sheikh Salman formally submitted his papers to FIFA on October 25 as per the Reuters article –http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-fifa-salman-idUKKCN0SK03A20151026, dated Oct 26. How come ITUC had the information beforehand having released the article two days prior? (http://www.ituc-csi.org/fifa-deep-concern-over-possible, dated Oct 23).

What happened after the September 9 email also clearly indicates how Sharan Burrow and ITUC executed disinformation campaign against Sheikh Salman. The following links shows their aggression against the AFC president.

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