Back to the International Newsfeed

Sheikh Salman warns against FIFA election 'PR stunts' by authorities

ZURICH -- FIFA presidential candidate Sheikh Salman supports the crackdown on corruption in world football, but doesn't want it overshadowing the elections this week.

"We don't want to see a PR stunt," Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of Friday's elections.

Swiss police arrested seven football officials -- including two FIFA vice presidents -- during high-profile dawn raids on a Zurich hotel two days before last May's presidential election, acting on behalf of American authorities investigating football corruption.

Revelations about the scale of bribery and racketeering in football sent the sport's governing body into meltdown and sparked Sepp Blatter's resignation four days after he'd won another term as president.