Confederation of African Football (CAF) has unanimously decided back Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa during the FIFA Extraordinary Assembly on 26th February 2016 at the elective assembly in Zurich, Switzerland.
The decision was reached after an executive committee meeting that was held at Kigali Serena international Hotel on Friday where the CAF members convened in one of the two off days at the on-going African Nations Championships (CHAN).
Africa has 54 member nations of the 209 votes, the largest voting block.
CAF first vice president Suketu Patel told the media in Kigali;
The CAF executive committee decided that they will give full support to Sheikh Salman to his candidacy for FIFA presidency.
Sheikh Salman is the Asian Football Confederation president and a former football federation boss in Bahrain.
There are five candidates who met the qualification criteria following a series of integrity tests late in 2015.
They are Jordan’s Prince Ali Al Hussein, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, former FIFA deputy Secretary General Jerome Champagne, Italian Gianni Infantino and South Africa’s Tokyo Sexwale.
All the candidates apart from Prince Ali are in Kigali to campaign to African FA representatives including Uganda’s Moses Magogo who attended several plenary meetings on Friday.
It remains to be seen whether all the African nations will back Shiekh Salman given the different promises by the respective candidates.
CAF President, Issa Hayatou has been the acting FIFA President since the suspension of Sepp Blatter.