ZURICH: Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has reiterated his vote-risking assessment that world federation cannot afford a massive expansion of its developent spending writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

The Bahraini president of the Asian Football Confederation has repeated his previous warning despite an awarness that for many small federations their FIFA subsidies are the difference between survival and collapse.

Gianni Infantino, the Swiss general secretary of European governing body UEFA, is not only Sheikh Salman’s most dangerous rival in Friday’s election for a new FIFA president but also the candidate who has offered the sharpest increase in aid funds.

He has suggested a $5m increase in aid cash over the next three years, more than double the present rate.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Seikh Salmn said: “The expected deficit for the next four years is $560m – this is going to be withdrawn from the reserves.

“If you are a chair of a company that is making losses and you say you are going to distribute dividends to your shareholders, it doesn’t make sense. I think in three years we (FIFA) would be bankrupt.

“Every person can see this cannot happen. The numbers do not match at all.”

Without apparently realising the irony Sheikh Salman, a member of the autcratic ruling royal family of Bahran, added: “It’s not up to the elected president to make such a risky decision as well. What kind of democracy and what kind of organization should be run by one man?”

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