Three of the candidates for the FIFA presidency were traveling to Qatar for meetings today, with one of them, South African Tokyo Sexwale, saying: “The time for alliances is coming.”
The development suggests that electoral horse-trading might be about to begin in the battle to replace Sepp Blatter as head of soccer’s world governing body.
Spokesmen for the frontrunners, Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa and UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, and for Sexwale confirmed that they would be in Doha for a game and to meet with Asian member associations of FIFA.
The final of the Asian Football Championship between South Korea and Japan to be played in Doha today.
The other two candidates, Jerome Champagne, a former FIFA deputy general secretary, and Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, did not immediately respond to a request for information about whether they would be there.
Speaking on South Africa’s Metro FM radio on Thursday, Sexwale confirmed that he would be in Qatar as a “guest of Sheikh Salman” and hinted at eventual support for an Asian candidate.
“The time for alliances is coming. This is the new thing that I am saying. It is healthy, democratic and it is good,” he said.
“If I see that Tokyo’s chances are not good... I am still FIFA, but which president would I want? The time for alliances will come,” he said.
That time would be before the Feb. 26 vote, he said.
“We are now talking, this one is talking to me, that one is talking to me, but who is talking? We are brothers, we are colleagues, we are comrades in arms,” Sexwale said.
One of the key power brokers in world sport, Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad al-Fadah al-Sabah, told reporters in October last year that he hoped his ally Sheikh Salman and Infantino would strike a deal before the vote.
“I hope there will not be a difficult situation, I hope there will be a coordination and we will find a solution,” he said.
Both Salman and Infantino have denied that any deal is in place.
Sexwale declined to discuss directly whether he would withdraw from the election, but said he wanted to see an African or an Asian become the next president.
“There is this desperation of ‘withdraw, withdraw.’ In whose interest?” he asked.
“Let me tell you my strategy ... what is the bottom line? It is not Tokyo Sexwale,” he said. “The bottom line for me, and I am appealing to Europe, to European voters, with the support of Europe, let’s have an Asian or African president. That is the bottom line.”
Sexwale’s campaign has been criticized by his own South African Football Federation.
Although it stated its support for him this week, the group said his bid had been “low key” and asked him to “come and explain himself.”
The South African, who was imprisoned on Robben Island during apartheid and was a close friend of former South African president Nelson Mandela, suggested Infantino would not be the right choice, as another Swiss following Blatter, who has been president since 1998.
“He is my friend, he is a buddy, but I would say maybe we should not replace Blatter with another Swiss,” he said.
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