Gianni Infantino’s 90-day reform plan if elected as Fifa president

The Fifa presidential candidate Gianni Infantino has admitted that it is "now or never" to restore credibility to world football's scandal-hit governing body but refused to criticise disgraced former leader Sepp Blatter.

Infantino, the Uefa secretary general who entered the race when Michel Platini was forced to withdraw after being banned for eight years, appeared at Wembley to unveil a "90-day plan" to reform Fifa.

“I think it’s now or never. We have to take this opportunity, to take a turn, to make a better Fifa and work for football in a united way, in a positive way. This is the right moment to do that,” said Infantino.

The Swiss-Italian, who has been at Uefa for 15 years, insisted there were no deals in place with other candidates, including the other front runner, the Bahraini Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman Ebrahim al-Khalifa. “I am a candidate for Fifa president and nothing else. I stand for the presidency until the end,” insisted Infantino.

It had been speculated that an alliance between the pair would ensure Infantino was offered the Fifa general secretary’s job if Sheikh Salman won the presidency. But last week, Sheikh Salman suggested that Infantino’s promises to increase development funds across the board were unrealistic and claimed that Fifa faced running out of money within two years if its financial situation did not improve.

Unveiling a raft of big name supporters including Fabio Capello and Jose Mourinho, Infantino said he was confident the English FA would back him after meeting with the chairman, Greg Dyke, on Monday morning.

Mourinho offered effusive backing for Infantino. “I think he’s very capable, very experienced, with a complete knowledge of everything around football and its organisation,” he said. “I think he’s the one. I am here with a real feeling that I am supporting somebody that can do really well.”

Infantino also again defended his use of €500,000 in Uefa funds to pay for his globe trotting campaign. “It is budgeted for, it is accounted for,” he said.

Challenged over whether Blatter, who was banned for eight years along with Platini in December over a “disloyal payment” between the pair, could become an honorary president in the future Infantino said he must wait for the outcome of an ongoing appeals process.

“My opinion about Mr Blatter is that of course there is a procedure pending there and I don’t want to participate in any speculation about the proceedings. We have to wait until the end of the proceedings before we can judge,” he said.

“What I can say is that Mr Blatter has been for 40 years in Fifa. I respect very much all the work he did in terms of football development in particular around the world. We need to recognise that Fifa has in the last 40 years undergone a great development,” he said.

“Mr Blatter has said himself that he probably should have stepped back a little bit earlier. This is maybe right. We have to wait and see what happens with the proceedings and we will see what the Congress will decide.”

Appeals lodged by Blatter and Platini will be heard by Fifa’s appeals committee later this month, ahead of the presidential election on 26 February. Both have said they will then take their cases to the court of arbitration for sport if their appeals fail.

Infantino unveiled a 10-point plan that he said would begin the process of restoring trust in Fifa in his first 90 days in office.

His pitch was carefully slanted to appeal to Africa and the Caribbean, where his face-off with Sheikh Salman is likely to be won or lost. He also promised an 11th proposal, which he said would be unveiled with a flourish to voters on 26th February.

Challenged over the way in which Uefa has handled match fixing scandals in Turkey and Greece, Infantino revealed that he and his family had received death threats and insisted no other body in the world could match its record in tackling the problem.

The other candidates in the race are former Fifa executive committee member Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, the South African Tokyo Sexwale and former Fifa executive Jerome Champagne.

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