Five men are contesting today’s FIFA presidential election. To win, a candidate needs two-thirds of the 207 eligible votes in the first round (138) writes KEIR RADNEDGE.
Each candidate will have up to 15 minutes to address congress, setting out their programme and seeking to persuade last-minute wavering voters. Then it comes to the ballot with a close watch to avert any sort of voting booth trickery.
If the two-thirds majority is not attained by any candidate then all contenders may contest the second round when a simple majority (104 votes) will be sufficient to win.
If no-one has attained such a majority then the last-placed candidate will drop out and a third round of voting will be ordered. Again a simple majority is sufficient.
Almost certainty two rounds of voting will be needed. Very possibly even three. The new president will then close congress, almost certainly summon an exco meeting for the following morning and start to plot the way ahead.
Time will not be on his side. A further ordinary congress looms in Mexico City in May. By then the world will expect not merely to hear talk of progress but to see evidence that the world of Blatter is history.
The candidates:
Prince Ali bin Al Hussein (40, Jordan, former Asian vice-president of FIFA, head of the Jordan FA);
Jerome Champagne (57, France, 11 years a senior FIFA official until being forced out in January 2010);
Gianni Infantino (45, Switzerland, general secretary of European federation UEFA);
Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (50, Bahrain, president of the Asian Football Confederation and a FIFA vice-president);
Tokyo Sexwale (62, South Africa, FIFA anti-racism and Palestine-Israel committees president).
Previous presidents:
1904-06: Robert Guerin (France)
1906-18: Daniel Woolfall (England)
1918-21: no president in place following Woolfall’s death
1921-54: Jules Rimet (France)
1954-55: Rodolfe Seeldrayer (Belgium)
1955-61: Arthur Drewry (England)
1961-74: Sir Stanley Rous (England)
1974-98: Joao Havelange (Brazil)
1998-2016: Sepp Blatter (Switzerland).
