Sheikh Salman says FIFA race is duel with Infantino
Ex-FIFA official faces court over Qatar slur
DOHA: FIFA presidential frontrunner Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa told AFP yesterday that only he or Europe’s Gianni Infantino can win the race to become leader of world football. The Asian Football Confederation president also said any candidate who does not have “a minimum number” of votes should not stay in the contest for the February 26 vote, piling pressure on the other three campaign contenders. South African media are already speculating that the only African candidate Tokyo Sexwale could withdraw this week, though he denied this to AFP. Asked who how many candidates had a chance of winning the presidency of the scandal-tainted FIFA, the Bahrain sheikh said: “Realistically for the five, I think two.”
Pressed on who they are, he added: “I think Gianni has the support of the (UEFA) confederation and I think Asia has its candidate. From what I hear, from what I feel, I think its between me and him.”
Infantino is the UEFA general secretary. The other three candidates are Sexwale from South Africa, Jordan’s Prince Ali bin Hussein, a former FIFA vice president, and Jerome Champagne from France, a former FIFA official.
Speaking in English and Arabic, Sheikh Salman said he was increasingly confident of victory. “When I took the decision to run in the election, I thought I had a good chance.
FIFA DEAL LOOMS
“And now we are approaching the election date and after all the last contacts with the confederations and the national federations, I am confident and optimistic and I can see that things are improving day by day.” He added: “From my point of view things are more than good.” All 209 FIFA member associations will vote at a special congress in Zurich for a successor for Sepp Blatter, who stepped down and was subsequently banned from FIFA, following corruption BERLIN: Former German FA (DFB) president and ex-FIFA official Theo Zwanziger is due in court tomorrow over comments he made last year, claiming Qatar is “the cancer of world football”. The 70-year-old trained lawyer will appear in Duesseldorf’s regional court when his case starts after the Qatar Football Association (QFA) filed a civil lawsuit for damages over his comments concerning the Arab States’ hosting of the 2022 World Cup.
The case highlights the sensitivity surrounding the decision in December 2010 by world football’s governing body FIFA to award the tiny Arab state the right to stage a World Cup finals. The QFA is suing after Zwanziger told public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk: “I have always said that Qatar was a cancerous growth on world football. It all started with that decision.”Switzerland’s prosecutor is investigating both FIFA’s decision to award the 2018 World Cup finals to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar amidst accusations of bribery and corruption.
The Qataris want to prevent any repetition of the comments from Zwanziger, who was elected to FIFA’s executive committee from 2011-2015, and was DFB president allegations engulfing football’s governing body. The sheikh and Infantino are seen as the frontrunners and he hinted that a deal between the two could be possible ahead of the vote. “You have to leave the door always open, you cannot shut the door on any candidate.”
He was speaking in Doha after attending the finals of the AFC Under 23 championship, which finished on Saturday.
Infantino was also in Qatar over the weekend, as well as Sexwale. Sheikh Salman added that anyone who had no chance of winning should now consider dropping out of the race.
“Well, I think that, you know, any candidate who feels that he cannot bring, let’s say, a minimum number (of votes), I don’t think he should continue.”
In his election manifesto, he has argued for more than 32 national sides to play at each World Cup and said on Sunday that no more than 40 teams should contest the tournament.
He also reiterated his support for Qatar’s controversial hosting of the tournament in 2022. During his campaign the sheikh has been criticised by human rights groups who accuse him of involvement in the oppression of pro-democratic demonstrations in 2011 in Bahrain and the use of torture, claims which he denies.
The rival candidates have been on a globetrotting campaign seeking support for their bids to take over FIFA. The world football body is reeling from US corruption charges against 39 football officials, marketing executives and two companies. Swiss investigators are looking into the attribution of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.
Blatter is separately under formal investigation in Switzerland for criminal mismanagement over a “disloyal” $2 million payment made to UEFA president Michel Platini. Blatter and Platini were banned from all football activity for eight years by FIFA’s ethics tribunal in December. — AFP from 2006 until 2012.
Zwanziger is confident about his chance of winning his case, while the Qataris view the Germans’ words as “unacceptable slander and vilification” of the Arab state and it’s citizens, according to court documents. “The case is quite simple. In Qatar, I probably wouldn’t be allowed to say that. But here I can,” Zwanziger told SID, an AFP subsidiary. “It comes down to sharply criticising something that is incompatible with my social ideas. Of course, I’ll be in court.”
Zwanziger’s lawyer has submitted a 22page response to the civil lawsuit, which contains a biological clarification of the word ‘cancer’. He has repeatedly criticised the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar, but insists his words were directed against FIFA’s system of awarding the 2022 World Cup and the choosing of Qatar, not at the country itself or it’s citizens. Zwanziger is being sued for the nominal sum of 100,000 euros ($108,305).
Frankfurt authorities are currently investigating Zwanziger and two other former DFB officials for suspected tax fraud over an irregular 6.7 million euros payment to FIFA relating to the 2006 World Cup, which was held in Germany. — AFP