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Infantino to visit Robben Island in FIFA campaign finale

LONDON (Reuters) - FIFA presidential candidate Gianni Infantino will round off his election campaign with a visit to Robben Island, the former apartheid-era prison in South Africa, a source close to the Swiss's campaign told Reuters on Sunday.

Infantino to visit Robben Island in FIFA campaign finale
(Reuters)

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Source: Reuters


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Infantino, general secretary of the European football federation UEFA, is seeking African support in his bid to replace Sepp Blatter at the helm of world football's governing body.

Infantino and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain appear to be the frontrunners for Friday's election, to be held in Zurich, Switzerland.

Salman has won the backing of the African Football Confederation's (CAF) executive committee, but his Swiss rival has been working hard to try to attract the votes of the continent's national football associations.

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Infantino will visit the prison on Monday with South Africa's Tokyo Sexwale, another election candidate and a former political prisoner on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela.

The two other candidates in the election are former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne of France and Jordanian Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein.

Infantino already appears to have widespread backing in Europe and has been promised support from South and Central American countries.

The FIFA vote takes place amid a corruption crisis that has seen 41 individuals and entities including top FIFA officials indicted by U.S. prosecutors for offences including corruption, fraud and money laundering.

Swiss authorities are also investigating FIFA, while the organisation's own Ethics Committee has banned a number of senior officials including Blatter, UEFA president Michel Platini and former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke for ethics violations.

(Reporting by Simon Evans in London; Editing by Digby Lidstone and Editing by Kevin Liffey)


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