Presidency Election: FIFA Shuts Out Platini, Admits Sexwale Four Others To Contest

The FIFA Ad-hoc Electoral Committee has admitted and declared five candidates eligible to stand for election to the office of FIFA President. The election will take place at the Extraordinary FIFA Congress in Zurich on 26 February 2016.  

The candidates admitted and declared are: 

• HRH Prince Ali Al Hussein 

• Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa 

• Jérôme Champagne 

• Gianni Infantino 

• Tokyo Sexwale 

Pursuant to FIFA’s Electoral Regulations and the FIFA Organisation Regulations, the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee conducted integrity checks on the candidates. This two-step process involved first creating detailed reports of risk-relevant information relating to each candidate. The integrity check included a review of corporate records, litigation cases, bankruptcy proceedings, potential regulatory actions taken against the candidate and a review of media reports concerning potential red flags (fraudulent behaviour, match manipulation, human rights violations, etc.). Each candidate was then asked to comment on the content of the detailed report produced. The final integrity check reports and the comments submitted by the candidates were provided to the members of the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee and evaluated to determine whether each of the candidates fulfilled the requirements for the presidency as outlined in the FIFA Statutes and Regulations.  The Ad-hoc Electoral Committee did not admit the candidature of Musa Hassan Bility, in view of the content of the integrity check report relating to him. For reasons of protection of personality rights, the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee – while it has explained its considerations in detail to Musa Hassan Bility – will not comment publicly on the specifics of its decision. The decisions of the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee on the eligibility of candidates may be appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. The committee will continue to supervise the electoral process to ensure that each candidate complies with all applicable FIFA regulations and provisions leading up to and during the Extraordinary FIFA Congress in February.