Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain emerged last night as a strong contender to succeed Sepp Blatter as Fifa president on a day when Michel Platini was offered only qualified support by Uefa.
The European governing body said last night, after emergency meetings of its executive committee and 54 member associations, that it supports Platini’s “right to a due process and to the opportunity to clear his name”, but discussions were held yesterday over contingency plans in case the former France captain is not allowed to proceed with his candidacy for the Fifa presidential election in February next year.
It then emerged that Sheikh Salman, the increasingly influential president of the Asian Football Confederation, intends to stand for election as Blatter’s successor and believes