Wednesday 24 February 2016 09:47, UK
FIFA will have a new president on February 26. After 18 years, Sepp Blatter's controversial reign will come to an official end at the FIFA Congress in Zurich.
Five candidates want to replace Blatter and become the most powerful man in world football, and whoever wins will become the ninth elected president in FIFA's 112-year history.
The new president will be elected in a secret ballot of FIFA's 209 member associations, but Kuwait and Indonesia are banned, so there may be only 207 votes up for grabs.
Africa has 54 votes, Europe 53, Asia 46, North and Central America and the Caribbean 35, Oceania 11 and South America 10. A candidate needs two thirds of the votes to win in the first round. In subsequent rounds, the candidate with the lowest number of votes drops out and a simple majority is required to win.
During the past three months, Sky Sports News HQ has interviewed all five candidates - Sheikh Salman of Bahrain, Gianni Infantino, Prince Ali of Jordan, Jerome Champagne and Tokyo Sexwale.
Over the next few days we are profiling each candidate, study their manifestos and assess their chances. We continue the analysis by looking at Prince Ali.
Profile: Sheikh Salman
Profile: Tokyo Sexwale
Profile: Jerome Champagne
PRINCE ALI:
WHY IS HE STANDING?
This is the second time Prince Ali has tried to become FIFA president. He was Sepp Blatter's only challenger in last May's election. At the time, he was the anti-Blatter candidate and the UEFA candidate because Michel Platini decided not to stand.
Since then, Prince Ali and Platini have had a falling out. In September, Prince Ali called Platini "the son of Blatter". He said Platini was part of FIFA's problem and not the solution.
Without UEFA's backing, Prince Ali's campaign seemed to be doomed from the start, even though according to UK bookmakers he was the early favourite.
WHAT ARE HIS CHANCES?
As a former member of the Jordanian special forces, it is not surprising that Prince Ali relishes a challenge, but it is difficult to see how he can win on Friday.
In last year's election he was beaten 133 to 73 by Blatter. The majority of his 73 votes came from UEFA. This time, those votes will be going to Gianni Infantino.
Prince Ali does not have the backing of his own Asian Football Confederation (AFC) because the vast majority of their 46 votes will be going to the AFC president Sheikh Salman. There is no love lost between Sheikh Salman and Prince Ali. During a news conference in Geneva on February 11, Prince Ali referred to Sheikh Salman as "that person".
He said he used to get on with Sheikh Salman, but he had "big issues with him now". He described Sheikh Salman as "the wrong man for FIFA".
Prince Ali lost his seat on the FIFA executive committee because the seat he occupied was given to Sheikh Salman by the AFC. During his Geneva news conference, Prince Ali also criticised Sheikh Salman for not doing enough to protect Bahraini players after pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in 2011. Sheikh Salman says he did nothing wrong.
Prince Ali will not win but his voters could become kingmakers in later rounds. Once he drops out, his backers could switch their votes to Infantino.
WHAT KIND OF PRESIDENT WILL HE BE?
In the unlikely event that he wins, he would have to build bridges in Asia and Europe, although building a bridge to Sheikh Salman would appear to be mission impossible.
During interviews Prince Ali comes across as an impressive man and he is obviously passionate about the game. He is an effective public speaker, but he would have to choose his words more carefully if he was the most powerful man in world football. Upsetting the presidents of major confederations such as Europe and Asia would lead to serious problems.
Ordinary fans do not get a vote in the election, if they did, Prince Ali would probably win. He came top of pressure group New FIFA Now's election poll with 28 per cent of the 16,500 votes.
WHAT STANDS OUT IN HIS MANIFESTO?
His 24-page manifesto contains his vision for FIFA and football. He says he wants to restore FIFA's credibility by introducing 21st century governance standards. There is a pledge to co-operate with the Swiss and US authorities investigating FIFA and a commitment to releasing the full findings of Michael Garcia's report into the bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Prince Ali has also released a timeline of his key activities for his first 12 months in office. According to the document, in his first two months in office he would commission a detailed business review, begin the recruitment process for a FIFA CEO and review the bid process for World Cups.
Funding for FIFA's 209 member association would quadruple from £170,000 a year to £700,000 a year. He is also committed to setting up an independent oversight group led by former United Nations general secretary Kofi Annan.
WHAT DOES HE THINK OF SEPP BLATTER?
Prince Ali is the only candidate who does not need to pay homage to Blatter. He sees himself as the only person who was brave enough to challenge Blatter last year.
Ali and Blatter were once on good terms, but they fell out when Prince Ali spoke his mind and refused to do what he was told on the executive committee. He was one of the few FIFA insiders brave enough to speak out and act, but that has earned him as many enemies as friends.
WHO DOES HE BLAME FOR THE FIFA CRISIS?
Prince Ali joined the FIFA executive committee in 2011, so he has inside knowledge about what has gone wrong. He blames Blatter and senior football officials for the crisis. He describes this election as "FIFA's last chance to get it right".
WHO DOES HE SUPPORT?
Prince Ali has supported Arsenal since the days when they played at Highbury. He is quietly confident that they will win the Premier League title this season.
He says he has tremendous respect for Arsene Wenger and he believes it would be a great achievement if the French boss won the title again.
Profile: Sheikh Salman
Profile: Tokyo Sexwale
Profile: Jerome Champagne
Watch full coverage of the FIFA Presidential Election on February 26 on Sky Sports News HQ.
