ZURICH — Every candidate, in every election, tries to picture a path to victory. The FIFA presidential election here on Friday is no different.
While most observers see the ballot as largely a two-horse race between Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain and Gianni Infantino of Switzerland, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan and his supporters envision a different outcome: A multiballot voting process that ends with Prince Ali leapfrogging to victory.
According to several high-ranking soccer officials who have discussed the situation with the campaigns, the crucial confederation in such a chain of events would be Europe.