Uefa’s Gianni Infantino set to enter race to replace Sepp Blatter as Fifa president

Uefa members expected to recommend general secretary for post Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalif confirmed as sixth candidate 

Gianni Infantino, left, has worked closely with Michel Plantini at Uefa for the last six years.

Uefa’s general secretary Gianni Infantino is expected to enter the race for the Fifa presidency later on Monday. The members of Uefa’s executive committee are expected to recommend Infantino – Michel Platini’s right-hand man for the past six years – be nominated.

Platini has also submitted his candidacy for the election but is currently suspended for 90 days pending a disciplinary hearing into a £1.3m payment signed off by the departing president, Sepp Blatter, in 2011.

Sources close to Uefa have disclosed that an emergency meeting of Uefa’s executive committee – via teleconference – has been called, where Infantino’s candidacy will be discussed.

It comes after Asian football’s leader, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, became the sixth candidate to submit his candidacy for the Fifa election, according to the official Bahrain news agency.

Sheikh Salman, who is from Bahrain, is said to have submitted his nominations to Fifa on Sunday night despite opposition from human rights groups.

His entry into the election throws the contest wide open – he had previously backed Platini until his suspension, commands widespread support in Asia and is a close ally of influential Olympic power-broker Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah from Kuwait.

The other candidates announced so far are: South Africa’s Tokyo Sexwale, a former anti-apartheid activist who was imprisoned on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela; Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan; David Nakhid, former Trinidad and Tobago player; and the former Fifa deputy general secretary Jérôme Champagne.

Sheikh Salman is a member of the Bahrain royal family and has attracted opposition from human rights organisations due to the regime’s role in the suppression of the country’s pro-democracy demonstrations in 2011.