Fifa has confirmed the names of the seven candidates to replace Sepp Blatter as its president – although one person on the original eight-man list, David Nakhid, is not among them.
Nakhid, a former Trinidad and Tobago international was absent from the list as, although he had the five required nominations, one of his supporters had also backed another another candidate.
“In view of this, the [election] committee decided not to consider Mr Nakhid’s application as it did not fulfil the required five declarations of support,” Fifa said in a statement.
The seven men who will now go forward to the 26 February election are Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, the Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino, Liberia’s FA president Musa Bility, Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman, the former diplomat Jérôme Champagne, the South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale, the Uefa president Michel Platini.
Platini’s participation in the election depends on his 90-ban from football being lifted. Platini was suspended from football for 90 days pending a disciplinary hearing into a £1.3m payment signed off by outgoing president Sepp Blatter in 2011.
If his ban is lifted, Fifa said in a statement that Platini’s candidacy would be put in the hands of its Ad-hoc Electoral Committee which would “decide, depending on the respective exact point in time, on how to proceed with the candidature concerned”.
