SO, WHO’S GOING TO WIN? N?
1 SHEIK SALMAN (AGE: 50) NATIONALITY: Bahraini
KEY MANIFESTO PLEDGE: ‘Will work to take politics out of football.’
VERDICT: Hot favourite due to the backing of most of Asia and much of Africa. Campaign dogged by allegations of complicity in torture of footballers arrested in the post-Arab Spring crackdown in 2011.
CHANCE OF SUCCESS: 4.5 out of 5
2 GIANNI INFANTINO (AGE: 45) NATIONALITY: Swiss-Italian KEY MANIFESTO PLEDGE: Increase World Cup to 40 teams.
VERDICT: Remains close to the disgraced Michel Platini. Infantino’s UEFA has a patchy record on tackling match-fixing. Has wide support in Europe.
CHANCE OF SUCCESS: 3 out of 5
3 PRINCE ALI (AGE: 40, above) NATIONALITY: Jordanian
KEY MANIFESTO PLEDGE: Increase annual funding to 209 global FAs from $250,000 to $1million.
VERDICT: Ran against Sepp Blatter in last year’s race. Much of support for Ali (above) from last time came from Europe and is now gone.
CHANCE OF SUCCESS: Zero
4 TOKYO SEXWALE (AGE: 62) NATIONALITY: South African
KEY MANIFESTO PLEDGE: Allowing shirt sponsorship at the World Cup.
VERDICT: Of interest to FBI for a role in alleged $10m bribe US authorities believe was paid to secure 2010 World Cup for South Africa.
CHANCE OF SUCCESS: Zero
5 JEROME CHAMPAGNE (AGE: 57) NATIONALITY: French KEY MANIFESTO PLEDGE: Doubling the $250,000 annual funding to FIFA’s 100 poorest nations.
VERDICT: One of Blatter’s closest confidants, so tarnished by association. Manifesto seeks to rebalance the game’s financial inequities — hence he hasn’t got a hope.
CHANCE OF SUCCESS: Zero HOW THE VOTE WORKS
1: Each of FIFA’s eligible 207 associations have a vote.
2: A candidate with two-thirds of the votes in the first round wins outright.
3: If no outright victory, voting goes to further rounds, with a simple majority needed (104 of 207). From the second round, the candidate with fewest votes each round drops out.