Dubai: There may be five candidates heading into Friday’s Fifa presidential election, but it is widely considered to be a head-to-head between AFC President Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino.
Fifa is split into six confederations made up of a total 209 members. Two members, Kuwait and Indonesia, are awaiting to hear if they will be allowed to cast their votes on Friday because they are currently serving bans for government interference, so the revised number of votes could be just 207.
Some of the confederations have already announced which candidate they are backing with Africa (CAF) and Asia (AFC) supporting Shaikh Salman.
Infantino is backed by Europe (Uefa) and South America (CONMEBOL). North America (CONCACAF) also appears to be siding with Infantino, but has yet to announce, along with Oceania (OFC), who have not publicly declared any preference and could therefore prove decisive.
Confederations tend to, but don’t have to, vote en-block. And this is where Prince Ali, who has marginal breakaway support in Asia, North America, Africa and Europe, could prove instrumental.
If Prince Ali, as expected, drops out after the first round of voting, he could become kingmaker and take his support to either Infantino or Shaikh Salman and if recent rhetoric is anything to go by, Prince Ali is closer to Infantino.
