Gianni Infantino has declared 500,000 euros ($542,000) in financial backing from UEFA for his FIFA presidential campaign. Infantino, UEFA's general secretary, disclosed on his campaign website that the funding was approved by the European governing body in October. FIFA's 209 federations vote on Feb. 26. With Michel Platini ineligible due to his FIFA ban, Infantino entered the race on deadline-day in October as the UEFA-based candidate. The funding wasn't mentioned in that day's UEFA statement. "The UEFA executive committee agreed last October to support my campaign for the presidency of FIFA and set aside an amount of 500,000 euros for this purpose," Infantino wrote on his website. "The funding is there essentially to cover the cost of my travels around the world and to provide some logistical support, given that I'm trying to meet as many national associations as possible in order to discuss issues of concern to them regarding the future of world football." Infantino is competing against Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa of Bahrain, ex-FIFA vice president Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan, former FIFA official Jerome Champagne and South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale. Infantino has this week been backed by Germany, Switzerland, Barbados and Suriname. Ali says will win a clean vote In Wellington, Prince Ali said Friday he was "fully confident" of winning the corruption-plagued organization's leadership ballot next month, provided the vote is clean. He called for a more transparent world governing body, reiterating his criticism of a development deal between the Asian and African confederations that he sees as creating a voting bloc for one of his rivals. "It's very obvious with the timing that, for whatever reason, it's wrong to be making these sorts of deals," he told reporters in Auckland. However, Prince Ali said his campaign was still gaining momentum as he criss-crosses the globe shoring up support. "I can tell you from my side that I'm fully confident I will win this if things are conducted properly," he said. Ex-VP gets bail A US judge has approved the release pending trial of Alfredo Hawit, a former vice president of world soccer's governing body FIFA and one of more than 40 people and entities charged in an anti-corruption sweep in the sport, his lawyer said on Thursday. Hawit is to be released on a $1 million personal recognizance bond secured by $50,000 cash and real estate, lawyer Justin Weddle said. It was not immediately known when he would be released, but Hawit would be subject to home detention and electronic monitoring, Weddle said. Hawit of Honduras, onetime head of his country's federation and the North and Central America and Caribbean confederation, CONCACAF, pleaded not guilty on Jan. 13 in Brooklyn federal court to charges that he participated in schemes to accept bribes from sports marketing companies. — Agencies
