Election tainted by Olympic lobbying
THE dirty tricks campaign around the FIFA presidential election reached new heights on the eve of today’s vote in Zurich with claims that the camp of the favourite — Sheik Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa — has been using national Olympic Committee contacts to lobby for last-minute backing.
Sports Agenda has been shown an email trail that clearly demonstrates concern that the Sheik’s team allegedly contacted some european countries supporting his main rival gianni Infantino, via Olympic sources, to encourage them to change sides.
The countries contacted say the calls came from Olympic officials in Hungary, Italy, France and China — which looks a clear breach of the International Olympic Committee’s ethical code of conduct.
If told countries were committed to another candidate, the Olympic figures then asked them to vote for the Sheik in the second round.
Using Olympic contacts for a FIFA vote will be a sensitive issue for the likely new leader of world football. Sheik Salman’s most influential supporter is Kuwait’s Sheik ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, president of the powerful association of national Olympic Committees and widely acknowledged as the kingmaker for IOC president Thomas Bach and, in all likelihood, Sheik Salman at FIFA.
French, Hungarian and Italian football federations were understood to be incensed as the Olympic people talked about backing their bids (Paris, Budapest and Rome) for the 2024 Olympics in return for a Sheik Salman vote today.
Complaints about Olympic personnel interfering in the FIFA campaign have been put to Domenico Scala, chairman of the ad-hoc electoral committee, but have not been acted on. The involvement of IOC people in the FIFA election was also raised by MP Damian Collins in Parliament this week. a spokesman for Sheik Salman refused to comment.
THE expectation is Sheik Salman will become the new president of FIFA after two rounds of voting in Zurich’s Hallenstadion today. But were the critical reform discussions scheduled for the morning to drag on into the afternoon and Gianni Infantino’s challenge benefit from the momentum of the last week, then it could be an evening finish. That would certainly disrupt the Hallenstadion’s best-laid plans with an ice hockey match there tomorrow and the rink having to be installed overnight. SEPP BLATTER (right) has refused to accept that his life as FIFA president is over — even after being banned for six years from all football involvement. But perhaps the sight of his bare office in FIFA House cleared of all signs of Blatter’s 40-year presence might help the message to sink in.
THE hugely-tarnished CONCACAF confederation of Central and North America and the Caribbean are in the unchartered waters of having lost their last three presidents on serial corruption charges. So credit CONCACAF for allowing the media into their Congress in Zurich to show they have nothing to hide — even heated in-fighting over the procedures to elect their next president. The door was always shut to the Press when criminals ran CONCACAF.