FIFA’s executive committee is being urged to discuss postponing the presidential election at an emergency meeting following the crisis that has struck the world governing body, it can be disclosed.
– Euro 2016: Spain seal place, Walcott on target for England
– #360VIEW: Klopp must have full control at Liverpool
– FIFA: President Blatter provisionally suspended for 90 days
Several FIFA ExCo members, including England’s David Gill, Germany’s Wolfgang Niersbach and Belgium’s Michel D’Hooghe called for an emergency meeting to take place, and their request has been granted with a discussion to be held in Zurich on October 20.
The calls for the emergency meeting came after Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were both provisionally banned for 90 days by FIFA’s ethics committee.
It is understood that the presidential election, due to be held on February 26, would be top of the agenda.
Platini and Blatter on @lequipe front page – ‘FALL WITH ME’ (also a play on ‘tombe’, which also means ‘tomb’) pic.twitter.com/ES779joj4i
— Tom Williams (@tomwfootball) October 9, 2015
It is also likely to be raised at a meeting of UEFA’s 54 member associations which has been called for next Thursday in Nyon, Switzerland – UEFA president Platini filed his nomination papers to run for the presidency just hours before his suspension and postponing the election would help his cause.
D’Hooghe, the longest-serving member of the FIFA ExCo, said: “I am one of the members asking for an emergency meeting. At the moment I have no information about an eventual postponing of the election but perhaps this point could be discussed there.”
The deadline for nominations for candidates for the FIFA presidency is due to end on October 26.
Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan is also planning to run, and it is understood Asian football chief Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa from Bahrain is pondering whether to run himself, as is Kuwait’s Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, another FIFA ExCo member.
Platini has insisted he is determined to maintain his challenge for the FIFA presidency but the ethics committee provisional ban stands in his way – and he will also have to pass an ethics committee integrity check.
The Frenchman has lodged an appeal against the ban, as has Blatter, who was relieved of his duties as FIFA president on Thursday.
Klaus Stohlker, Blatter’s friend and adviser, said: “He has appealed already to FIFA’s appeal committee. He is defending his position and he is sure that he will be found not guilty.”
Platini has also announced he will challenge the ban, and both cases will now go to the FIFA appeals committee. UEFA said Platini “will not perform his official duties for the time being”.
Meanwhile, Korean billionaire Chung Mong-joon, who had intended to run for the presidency but was given a six-year ban on Thursday, has said he will take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and sue the ethics committee.
