More candidates joined the race Monday to become president of football world governing body FIFA, including Bahraini royal family member Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, who is president of the Asian Football Confederation, confirmed his candidacy and Gianni Infantino, the highly-regarded general secretary of the sport's European organization UEFA, dpa reported. UEFA's executive committee unanimously agreed to support a bid by Italian-Swiss lawyer Infantino, while UEFA said it was supporting Infantino "following consultation within Europe and with national federations from across the global football community." A statement made no mention of UEFA president Michel Platini, who has been Europe's favoured candidate to succeed outgoing FIFA president Joseph Blatter. Sheikh Salman, a former president of the Bahrain Football Association, filed his candidacy at FIFA headquarters in Zurich on Sunday night, the Asian confederation confirmed. -- SPA 18:57 LOCAL TIME 15:57 GMT تغريد
