The head of Asian football is poised to announce a bid for the FIFA presidency, a source told AFP on Friday, in an opportunistic move which would dramatically reshape the election race.
Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa could make a formal announcement as early as Friday and would be a serious challenger as the leader of FIFA’s second-largest confederation.
A bid by the Bahraini royal would be another major blow to the already suspended Michel Platini, who he formerly backed, and Shaikh Salman’s Asian rival Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan.
Shaikh Salman, once a staunch backer of outgoing FIFA chief Sepp Blatter, won a landslide election in 2013 to succeed the disgraced Mohamed bin Hammam as president of the Asian Football Confederation.
In April, he strengthened his grip when he won a fresh four-year term unopposed and became a FIFA vice-president — taking a post previously held by Prince Ali — into the bargain.
Shaikh Salman enjoys the strong backing of Kuwaiti powerbroker Sheikh Ahmad al Fahad al Sabah, who was elected to FIFA’s executive committee at the April congress and is also a major player in the Olympic movement.
The imposing Kuwaiti, a supporter of International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, heads the influential Olympic Council of Asia which runs the Asian Games among other major events.
He is also president of the Association of National Olympic Committees, which has more than 200 members, and heads the Olympic Solidarity Commission which hands out grants for athletes and sports development.