Chiyangwa to cast ballot

ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa this afternoon joins 206 other football associations' presidents in casting their ballots to elect a new Fifa president with strong indications that there will be more than two rounds of voting.

Kuwait and Indonesia will not be casting their votes after the world football mother-body suspended the two associations due to government interference.  The two lost votes might deal a body blow to favourite Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa of Bahrain who heads the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which includes Indonesia and Kuwait. Al-Khalisa has the backing of the  AFC's executive and was eyeing block support from the continent in the closely fought race against his main challenger Gianni Infantino, the Uefa general secretary.

Five candidates, Infantino of Switzerland, Al-Khalifa of Bahrain, France's Jerome Champagne, Jordan's Ali Bin Al-Hussein and South Africa's Tokyo Sexwale are vying for football's top post that will replace Sepp Blatter.

A candidate needs two thirds of the votes for a straight win.

If no one gets a straight two thirds, there will be a second round where a candidate that gets more than 50 percent of the votes cast will be declared the winner but if no one manages to get the numbers, the candidate with the least number will drop off and there will be another round of voting until a winner emerges.

Africa is going with the Bahrain although media reports indicate that the Arab countries were likely going to vote for Prince Ali.

Chiyangwa has had contact with the Jordanian as well as France's Jerome Champagne. He and vice president Omega Sibanda flew out of the country on Wednesday.

Besides the elections, the congress will also endorse a number of reforms which include increasing the number of teams participating in the World Cup finals from 32 to 40.