By Andrew Warshaw
May 6 – The inner sanctum of European football’s governing body has pledged its “unanimous support” to Sepp Blatter in the upcoming FIFA Presidential elections.
UEFA today issued a brief statement, signed by each of its Executive Committee members, calling on its Federations to support Blatter over Mohamed Bin Hammam in Zurich on June 1.
The UEFA stance, which “strongly recommends” all its member Federations to follow suit, may disappoint Bin Hammam but will come as no surprise to most who have followed the election process.
UEFA President Michel Platini’s interest in taking over from Blatter in four years’ time is an open secret and the Frenchman was always likely to rally his troops around him ahead of the ballot at FIFA headquarters.
Whether or not Platini ultimately manages to secure the backing of UEFA’s entire 53-strong membership is far from certain, however.
Unlike the World Cup ballot, which is the responsibility of an elite few, the FIFA Presidency is open to all the world governing body’s 208 nations, each of whom gets one vote.
Insidworldfootball understands on good authority that by no means all European nations will vote for Blatter, with both British and Scandinavian countries believed to be considering supporting Bin Hammam after 13 years of rule by the 75-year-old Swiss.
Some sources have even suggested more than a third of UEFA members might opt for Bin Hammam, with Eastern Europe ending up as the decisive bloc.
In that regard, Blatter will be hugely encouraged after officially receiving Russia’s backing during a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Russian officials have increasingly enjoyed good relations with Blatter, referring to him as “a good friend and ally” after the country was awarded the 2018 World Cup last December.
“It is to Blatter’s great credit that Russia won the right to host the World Cup,” Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, who is also a member of FIFA’s Executive Committee as well as head of the 2018 Organising Committee, was quoted as saying.
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