Bahrain Sheikh Salman’s Fifa candidacy

The emergence of Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa as a serious candidate for the Fifa presidency underlines the Bahraini royal’s position as a powerful player in Asian and wider international sport. But it has also added to scrutiny of Sheikh Salman’s alleged role in the crackdown on dissent following the 2011 political crisis, which the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president (since 2013) strongly denies. Salman has been described as a “reluctant candidate”, who stepped forward after Uefa president Michel Platini was suspended over allegations that he accepted a “disloyal payment” from outgoing Fifa president Sepp Blatter.