Blatter not to back any candidate

PARIS — Sepp Blatter said he will not support any of the five candidates standing to succeed him as FIFA president, through all but one of them had spoken to him about their bids. World football's governing body, embroiled in a corruption scandal that has led to indictments against several dozen senior officials in the United States, will vote for its new leader on Feb. 26. Blatter is not standing, having been banned for eight years for ethics violations. "Four of the five candidates have spoken to me. I cannot take sides, that is not possible," Blatter told French radio RMC. He said several national federations had asked him who they should vote for, but he told them to vote as they saw fit. Bahraini Royal Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa and UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino of Switzerland are the two front-runners. The other candidates are Jordan's Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein, Frenchman Jerome Champagne, the former deputy general secretary of FIFA, and South African businessman and politician Tokyo Sexwale. Prince Ali invites Annan to lead new FIFA reform group FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan said he would set up an independent oversight group led by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan if elected. A statement Thursday by Prince Ali's campaign organizers said the group would "help steer FIFA through its first year to recover from crisis and to support the future reform process." Soccer's world ruling body is engulfed in a graft scandal that has led to the indictment of several dozen leading soccer officials in the United States, and is under enormous pressure to reform. Prince Ali is one of five candidates standing to replace outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter, himself banned for eight years for ethics violations, in the Feb. 26 election. Last year, campaign group New FIFA Now also called for Annan to be put in charge of an independent reform commission. Thursday's statement said Prince Ali had already discussed the idea with Annan. It said the group would focus on governance issues "with the goal of stabilizing an organization in crisis." In the longer term, it would turn its attention to FIFA's development policies, and advise on aspects of the sport such as the expansion of the World Cup and combating match-fixing. "The FIFA Oversight Group ...is an essential element to revive FIFA's reputation and restore it to what it should be - a service organization for football," said Prince Ali. "Having the commitment of a group of people with such impeccable credentials, unquestioned integrity and global standing represents an unprecedented response to the unprecedented crisis sweeping FIFA." — Agencies