UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino will have the backing of the Scottish Football Association in tomorrow’s Fifa presidential election in Zurich.
The vote will go ahead after the Court of Arbitration for Sport yesterday rejected a bid by Prince Ali of Jordan, one of the other candidates, to have it postponed because the world governing body will not use transparent voting booths. Swiss-born Infantino is one of five mens bidding to succeed Sepp Blatter as president.
Other than the Jordanian, the rival candidates are Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa of Bahrain, South Africa’s Tokyo Sexwale and Jerome Champagne, a French former Fifa deputy secretary general.
The SFA will be represented at the vote by chief executive Stewart Regan, president Alan McRae and vice-president Rod Petrie. Infantino is of Italian origin and holds both Italian and Swiss nationalities.
A lawyer by profession, he is expected to gain the majority of the votes cast by the European associations.
Sheikh Salman is seen as the front-runner as he has the backing of the Asian and African federations. Infantino has pledged to increase the number of World Cup finalists to 40 from the current 32.
The SFA’s original choice was Michel Platini, the disgraced former president of Uefa. They – along with world football generally – were staggered by the revelation that Platini had been paid £1.3 million of Fifa cash in a secret deal with Blatter.
The SFA board consulted widely before choosing Infantino, who worked closely with the late David Taylor, the former chief executive of the SFA and joint general secretary of Uefa.
Regan said: “The board are clear that Gianni Infantinois the best candidate possible to lead the governance reform required at Fifa.
“He has been a highly respected general secretary of Uefa for many years and has performed that role with skill, diplomacy and professional integrity.
“As well as having the support of the majority of Uefa’s national associations, he also has the support of many across the world in other confederations We believe he has the leadership qualities required to push forward change at world football’s governing body.”
An SFA statement added: “During the process of identifying a preferred candidate, the board consulted with the wider Scottish football family via the congress meeting this month.
“Congress includes representatives from league bodies and affiliates, PFA Scotland, Supporters Direct Scotland, the Coaches and Managers’ Association and sportscotland among others.
“Infantino was also considered the preferred choice among the majority of congress members during a discussion forum which followed a review of the candidates’ manifestos.”
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