JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE Federation of International Football Associations has declared five candidates eligible to stand for election as President of the organisation.

South African anti-apartheid activist, Tokyo Sexwale is the onl;y African in the group.

He will vie for the top post alongside Prince Ali Al Hussein (Jordan), Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (Bahrain), Jérôme Champagne (France) and Gianni Infantino (Switzerland).

The election will take place at the Extraordinary FIFA Congress in Zurich on February 26.

Pursuant to FIFA’s Electoral Regulations and the FIFA Organisation Regulations, the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee conducted integrity checks on the candidates.

This two-step process involved first creating detailed reports of risk-relevant information relating to each candidate. The integrity check included a review of corporate records, litigation cases, bankruptcy proceedings, potential regulatory actions taken against the candidate and a review of media reports concerning potential red flags (fraudulent behaviour, match manipulation and human rights violations)

The final integrity check reports and the comments submitted by the candidates were provided to the members of the Ad-hoc Electoral Committee and evaluated to determine whether each of the candidates fulfilled the requirements for the presidency as outlined in the FIFA Statutes and Regulations.

The Ad-hoc Electoral Committee did not admit the candidature of Musa Hassan Bility, in view of the content of the integrity check report relating to him.

The elected official will succeed Swiss Sepp Blatter whose presidency was marred by corruption.

– CAJ News