KIGALI, Rwanda— Shaikh Salman's bid to succeed Sepp Blatter got a major boost Friday when the African soccer confederation announced it was backing the Bahraini royal for FIFA president.
Following a meeting of its executive committee in Rwanda, the Confederation of African Football said it would "fully support" the Asian soccer confederation president.
The decision significantly improved Salman's hopes of replacing Blatter as the head of the scandal-scarred soccer body. Salman and UEFA secretary general Gianni Infantino are seen as the strongest candidates to win the Feb. 26 election.
The biggest continental grouping among the 209 voting members is Africa with 54.
Both Salman and Infantino are expected to get good support from their home continents, Asia and Europe, respectively. But Africa is seen as the bloc that could clinch the vote for one of them.
The announcement was made by CAF vice presidents Suketu Patel and Almamy Kabele Camara at a news conference that lasted about a minute in a five-star hotel in Kigali, where the CAF executive committee had met earlier Friday.
Patel and Camara then left without taking questions, while executive committee members Leo Tenga of Tanzania and Kalusha Bwalya of Zambia declined to comment.
Although CAF executives declared their support for Sheikh Salman, there is nothing compelling African countries to vote for him. However, many are expected to follow CAF's recommendation.
Infantino, who campaigned widely in Africa late last year, said he was still confident that African countries would vote for him.
"I have received a lot of individual support and the discussions that I have had with African associations make me confident that I have a chance to win," Infantino said. "I am optimistic because I speak with the people and it's not the CAF executive that will decide the individual votes."
By backing Salman, CAF also turned its back on the only African candidate in the five-man field, South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale. Sexwale, a mining tycoon and former political prisoner during apartheid who was jailed alongside Nelson Mandela, had already been under pressure for a lackluster campaign. It was speculated he might withdraw if he was snubbed by his home continent, but he denied that Friday, saying he would "stay in the race until election day."
"There are no elections in Kigali," Sexwale said. "What we have seen is the assembly of the CAF executive who have made a recommendation. There are 54 federations in Africa that will make the decision to vote and not CAF."
The other candidates in the FIFA election are Prince Ali of Jordan and former FIFA executive Jerome Champagne of France.
Salman, Infantino, Sexwale and Champagne were all in Rwanda to campaign. Prince Ali had decided against traveling, his campaign team said.
Interim FIFA President Issa Hayatou, who is also the president of CAF, attended the meeting in Rwanda but had previously delegated the region's FIFA election responsibilities to the two African vice presidents.
However, Hayatou, the longtime head of African soccer, had hinted in an interview with French newspaper L'Equipe Thursday that CAF would back Salman and ignore Sexwale.
"If we decide to support Salman, is it a crime? Who can prevent us from doing this?" Hayatou was quoted as saying.
CAF's move was also bound to bring more scrutiny on a co-operation agreement signed last month between the AFC and CAF. The agreement — a month before the election — was criticized by Prince Ali, who accused Salman of trying to engineer a bloc of African votes in his favor against election rules.
Prince Ali asked FIFA to investigate. — AP
