Several soccer administrators, a Swiss lawyer, a former South African political prisoner and two members of Arab royalty were among the candidates who said they had filed paperwork to run for the FIFA presidency by Monday’s deadline.
The final day to submit nominations included some late drama: UEFA, soccer’s governing body in Europe, said it would put forward its secretary general, the Swiss lawyer Gianni Infantino; Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, a member of the ruling family of Bahrain, announced that he had entered the race with the “overwhelming support” of the Asian Football Confederation; and Musa Bility, the president of Liberia’s soccer association, joined a field that already included Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, the South African mining and energy executive Tokyo Sexwale and the suspended president of UEFA, Michel Platini.