KIGALI – Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa received a major boost in his bid to become the next FIFA president when he received an endorsement from the Confederation of African Football on Friday.

The governing body of football in Africa, which has 54 full members, said the Asian Football Confederation president was its preferred candidate for the poll in Zurich on Feb. 26, CAF vice-president Suketu Patel told reporters.

Africa, which is the biggest voting bloc with 54 of the total 209 votes, has emerged as a key battle ground for Fifa candidates, with all the candidates heading to the Rwandan capital where Caf executive committee members are attending the ongoing Chan 2016.

CAF first vice president Suketu Patel told supersport.com that, "The Caf executive committee decided that they will give full support to Sheikh Salman to his candidacy for Fifa presidency.”

CAF’s decision to support Sheikh Salman was expected after CAF signed a memorandum of understanding last month.

This does not however mean that all African countries will vote for Sheikh Salman who also has the full support of the Asian Football Confederation where he is president.

CAF president Issa Hayatou had earlier told the media that, "If we decide to support Salman, is it a crime? Who can prevent us from doing this?”

South African Tokyo Sexwale whose campaign is in jeopardy following this decision is likely to withdraw from the race for football’s top job.

Italian Gianni Infantino and former Fifa deputy secretary general Jerome Champagne are also in Kigali to campaign to African FA representatives who attended the meeting on Friday. Prince Ali of Jordan is the only candidate who did not make it to Kigali.

Agencies