Shaikh Salman hits back at rival’s complaint on voting

Bahraini FIFA presidential candidate Shaikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa has defended himself from the allegations from rival candidate Prince Ali bin Al Hussein.

Prince Ali had accused Shaikh Salman of a ‘blatant attempt to engineer a bloc vote’ referring to the signing of a pact by Asian Football Confederation which Shaikh Salman is currently the president.

Shaikh Salman clarified that the Asia-Africa pact was in the works long before he decided to run for the FIFA elections.

“I am astonished about my friend’s comments, which are wholly dismissed and entirely inaccurate,” media quoted Shaikh Salman as saying.

“As AFC president, one of my duties is to seek development-knowhow sharing opportunities for the AFC around the world and to establish solid ties with like-minded football professionals,” he said.

Bookmaker William Hill had declared Shaikh Salman favourite to become the next FIFA president, he came ahead of second favourite Prince Ali bin al-Hussein from Jordan. UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino, and Joreome Chamagne has also been touted as strong competition. The fact that both FIFA President Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini were suspended for eight year meant that Shaikh Salman’s position was further strengthened.