Candidates to succeed Sepp Blatter at the world game’s ruling body assemble in Florida and are primed to pitch for votes from 35 Concacaf membersIt has taken position largely in the shadows,save for the odd glitzy press conference or unveiling of celebrity backers, and lacked the drama of dawn raids in five star Zurich hotels or lurid (shocking; sensational) tales of bribes and backhanders. But even by the standards of recent events in Fifa-land, or the presidential race that will near to a conclusion in Zurich this month has been an often unedifying spectacle. The five men (and,inevitably, they are all men) who have spent recent months criss-crossing the world, and buzzwords about transparency and reform tumbling from their lips as they dispense glossy manifestos and funding pledges even as they scheme and plot behind the scenes,were on Thursday night heading for a hotel room in Miami to do their pitch to Concacaf’s 35 members.
Before he flew to Florida to join his rivals, the Jordanian former Fifa executive committee member and election outsider Prince Ali held a press conference in Geneva. In a continuing attempt to present himself as a genuine alternative to favourites Gianni Infantino (who has the official backing of Uefa) and the Bahraini Sheikh Salman Ebrahim al-Khalifa (who has the endorsement of the AFC and the Confederation of African Football) he declared: “This election will determine whether a small group of powerful individuals will hold Fifa hostage.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com