ZURICH — Five of the seven men hoping to succeed Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, have passed an internal ethics review and have been formally cleared to run in a February election, FIFA’s electoral committee announced on Thursday.
The electoral committee rejected the candidacy of Musa Bility of Liberia, “in view of the content of the integrity check report relating to him,” but declined to be more specific, saying it had explained its decision privately to him.
The seventh candidate, Michel Platini of France, submitted his paperwork to enter the race on Oct.