ZURICH (AP) – The Latest on the FIFA presidential election (all times local):
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1:15 p.m.
Sepp Blatter says he felt abandoned by God when police arrested FIFA officials at a Zurich hotel last May, provoking a crisis that ousted him as president.
Blatter tells French sports daily L’Equipe that May 27 was “the breaking point in my life, the day I would like to forget.”
He says: “That day I said to myself ‘Even God has abandoned me.’ When something like that falls on you, it’s terrible.”
Despite the early morning raids nine months ago on the Baur au Lac hotel and FIFA headquarters, Blatter was re-elected two days later. However, he soon announced plans to resign under pressure from American and Swiss federal investigations, which have since targeted him.
In an interview conducted last week, Blatter says “I don’t know why they would have come for me, but yes, I was scared, even physically. Anyway, this kind of police raid is done to scare people.”
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1:10 p.m.
Gianni Infantino says he is sure that support promised by 10 South American voters last month will be delivered in Friday’s FIFA election.
Late Tuesday, Paraguayan federation president Ramon Gonzalez said the 10-member CONMEBOL group would “reach an agreement in our next meeting.” It has a scheduled session Thursday.
Infantino tells The Associated Press in an interview that he has looked voters in the eye and “I have absolutely no doubt about CONMEBOL.”
The 10 votes promised to the UEFA general secretary in Paraguay on Jan. 28 are included among public pledges that Infantino’s campaign team say make him the front-runner ahead of Asian soccer president Sheikh Salman of Bahrain.
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1:05 p.m.
FIFA has asked presidential candidates to provide details of their intended victory speeches ahead of Friday’s election.
The five contenders have also been provided by FIFA with suggested answers to use in the post-vote news conference.
Soccer’s scandal-tarnished governing body is protective of its public image while trying to preserve its victim status in American criminal corruption investigations, attempting to prove a commitment to reform.
Candidate Gianni Infantino told The Associated Press that he will speak to the emergency congress “without any fear and, on the contrary, saying what I think.”
In an interview on Wednesday, Infantino adds “I will say whatever I want. I am my own man.”