12.02.2016 22:38 h

No CONCACAF endorsement in FIFA vote - yet

A meeting of the governing body for football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) ended here Friday with no decision over who the federation would back in the upcoming FIFA presidential election, a senior official said.

After two days of meetings which included presentations from four of the five men vying for world football's top job, CONCACAF deputy general secretary Jurgen Mainka said the body had not decided if the federation would give blanket endorsement to a particular candidate.

However Mainka raised the possibility of CONCACAF eventually giving firm backing, saying the issue may be discussed at a meeting in Zurich on the eve of the February 26 FIFA vote.

"It wasn't touched upon on the agenda, we do have an extraordinary congress the day before the FIFA election, something could happen over there, but I'm not privy to that," Mainka told reporters.

UEFA executive Gianni Infantino and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) chief Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa are widely seen as frontrunners for the FIFA vote, with other candidates including Jordan's Prince Ali bin al Hussein, South Africa's Tokyo Sexwale and France's Jerome Champagne.

All of the candidates except Sexwale gave presentations to CONCACAF officials on Thursday in Miami.

CONCACAF has been at the heart of football's global corruption scandal, with former president Jeffrey Webb and his successor Alfredo Hawit both arrested last year in separate raids in Switzerland prompted by a US-led investigation.

Webb's predecessor as CONCACAF chief Jack Warner is also charged in the investigation and is fighting against extradition to the United States from his native Trinidad.

In his address to CONCACAF delegates in Miami on Thursday, Prince Ali said the region should not be blamed for the actions of its leaders.

"Your confederation is not the cause of FIFA's problems," Prince Ali said.

"It is a victim of FIFA's problems. The failure of leadership at the top of FIFA set the tone for the entire organization."

CONCACAF represents 35 of the 209 votes which will be cast in the FIFA election, making the region a potentially pivotal battleground in the race to succeed ousted president Sepp Blatter.

Sheikh Salman is likely to carry support from Asia and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has already said it plans to back the Bahraini official.

Together, Asia and Africa hold 100 votes in the FIFA election. Infantino, meanwhile, is expected to win backing from the majority of Europe's 53 members and has also secured an endorsement from South America's governing body CONMEBOL (10 votes) and the regional grouping of Central American federations, UNCAF, (7 votes).

The leader of the Caribbean Football Union -- which accounts for 25 of CONCACAF's 35 votes -- said Friday it had not decided who to back in the election.

"No, we haven't decided, we have listened and we are listening to all the candidates and we will be discussing it amongst our members eventually, about who we will actually support come the next couple of weeks," CFU President Gordon Derrick said.

If any candidate in the FIFA race secures a two thirds majority in the first round they win the election outright.

If not, voting goes to a second round where a simple majority prevails.