Infantino confident of taking more than half of Africa’s votes

Infantino and rival candidate Tokyo Sexwale were to visit the island Monday, four days before the election to choose a successor for Sepp Blatter.

South African candidate for the FIFA Presidency, Tokyo Sexwale, has admitted that he would be “open to negotiations and alliances” ahead of Friday’s vote.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who passed away aged 95 in December 2013, was also incarcerated at Robben Island for similar reasons.

FIFA Presidential candidate Gianni Infantino remains confident of securing the top job at world football’s governing body after claiming “more than half” of the African member associations will vote for him in this week’s election following a short visit to Robben Island near Cape Town. “I think I will get more half the African votes”.

Africa is FIFA’s largest confederation by number of voting countries and is shaping up to be a key battleground ahead of Friday’s vote to choose the next head of world soccer.

“I feel very confident of having some support in Africa…”

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The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has 54 voting members, and earlier this month its executive committee endorsed Salman. Salman has the backing of Asia, while Infantino has the support of Europe.

Sexwale has struggled to gain support and has previously denied he’ll withdraw before the election.

Infantino was in Cape Town on Monday at the invitation of Sexwale – the other three candidates turned down the invite, citing lack of time.

Each of Fifa’s 209-member national football associations (FAs) hold one vote at the poll in which five candidates are vying to be elected to lead the global football body out of the worst graft scandal in its history.

But Infantino said there were no deals on the table yet. “I have nothing to hide about coming here”.

They wanted answers about Sexwale’s election tactics after they had helped him obtain the five nominations needed to stand to replace Blatter.

“Towards the finishing line there will be alliances”, Sexwale said.