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Tokyo Sexwale will be among the candidates who will run for the Fifa presidency on February 26. Submissions for the post close at midnight tomorrow.
The South African business tycoon has kept the football world guessing because he still has to declare his candidature to become Sepp Blatter’s replacement, but City Press has been reliably informed of frenetic behind-the-scenes lobbying to ensure his name gets into the official hat before the deadline.
The Daily Mail reported on Friday that Sexwale’s candidature was expected to be endorsed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at its meeting in Cairo next Saturday.
“A meeting of African football power brokers in Cairo on Saturday could go a long way in deciding the make-up of the Fifa presidential election.
“It is understood that South African Tokyo Sexwale will stand as a candidate if he receives the full support of the Confederation of African Football,” it reported.
Earlier this month, German football legend Franz Beckenbauer announced his backing of Sexwale as “a possible candidate”.
“I certainly believe that the German Football Association would support his candidacy,” said Beckenbauer, a former Fifa executive committee member.
He added that Sexwale would be “a good option because of his background in politics”.
“At some point, there will be the opportunity to appoint a Fifa president from an external source – someone from economics, someone from politics.
“That is why I refer to Tokyo, because he is someone different, who has a political past, but also knows his way around sport.
“He has the smell of neutrality and that’s why I think he would be a good solution,” said Beckenbauer.
Sexwale will battle it out with Blatter’s former right-hand man, Jérôme Champagne, who confirmed his candidature on Friday.
Others who have already put their hands up include Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain and David Nakhid of Trinidad and Tobago.
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein
The prince challenged Blatter in May, but lost with 73 votes to the incumbent’s 133 in the first round and then pulled out of the race in the second round, leading to Blatter retaining his position, albeit for a short while.
The 39-year-old prince, who is the president of both the Jordan Football Association and the West Asian Football Federation, has pledged to restore Fifa’s reputation if elected.
He has so far refused to name the five associations who backed his nomination.
Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa
Al-Khalifa is the president of the Asian Football Confederation.
The 49-year-old announced his candidature earlier this month. Some officials have called for him to be barred from the presidential race because of concerns about his human rights record.
This follows human rights groups in his country accusing him of complicity in the torture of several soccer players in 2011.
He has denied any wrongdoing.
There are talks, though, that some officials, even within CAF, have voiced their support for him, albeit not openly yet.
David Nakhid
The 51-year-old former Trinidad and Tobago skipper entered the race two weeks ago.
Now running a soccer academy in Beirut, Lebanon, David Nakhid was quite vocal about his mission.
“We can talk about transparency and corruption ad infinitum,” he said.
“In the end, the way to address things is you really have to focus on the problem of the lack of development.
“Development happens on the field, not in offices. Fifa currently stays in the office and gives out money ... the whole remedy for the organisation is ‘throw money at it’.”
He said he wanted to distinguish himself from his rivals by highlighting his connection to the game on the field as a player in the US, Europe and the Middle East, and then as a coach, as well as his role in opening an academy in Lebanon.
Jérôme Champagne
This will be the former French diplomat’s second attempt at the presidency. He was supposed to give former boss and friend Blatter some competition in May, but pulled out of the elections after he failed to garner enough nominations.
Having served Fifa for a long period, the 57-year-old is well versed in global football politics, but his failure in the previous election might be an indication that he has lost touch with the global football family and is therefore a bit out of step with the sport’s politics
