Nyon, Switzerland: Gianni Infantino's bid for the presidency of world soccer body FIFA to lead it out of the worst graft scandal in its history was given a lift on Friday when the Swiss lawyer won "overwhelming" backing from Europe's football associations.
Infantino, general secretary of European soccer body UEFA, entered the race to succeed disgraced president Sepp Blatter initially as a stop-gap candidate after UEFA head and FIFA presidential candidate Michel Platini was suspended pending an ethics investigation in October.
But when Platini was banned for eight years from all football activities by FIFA's ethics committee last month, Infantino became a candidate in his own right and has since been travelling the world canvassing votes.
UEFA also said in a statement it would not schedule a presidential election to replace Platini until the Frenchman's appeal process had been completed.
"We hope his name is cleared and that he can return to the European football family as quickly as possible."
Five candidates
The 53 European members of FIFA met on Friday afternoon and UEFA said in a statement following the meeting that they would back Infantino, a move which was not unexpected but still a significant boost to his campaign.
"UEFA's national associations overwhelmingly expressed their support for Gianni and will officially announce their individual positions in due course," said UEFA.
FIFA's 209 member associations each have one vote in the election. Infantino is one of five candidates, two of them European, standing in the February 26 election.
Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne of France, South African businessman and politician Tokyo Sexwale and Jordanian former FIFA executive committee member Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein are Infantino's rivals.Blatter who had been in charge at FIFA since 1998 was banned from football for eight years in December. Forty-one individuals, many of them national association presidents, and entities have been indicted in the United States for bribery, money laundering and wire fraud since May.
Blatter and Platini, who had been a strong favourite to succeed him, were both banned over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million) made to the Frenchman by FIFA with Blatter's approval in 2011 for work done a decade earlier.
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