UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino and Asian football's leader Sheik Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa have become the latest candidates for the FIFA presidential election.
After an emergency meeting of UEFA's executive committee, the members have recommended that Infantino - Michel Platini's right-hand man for the last six years - be nominated for the presidency.
Sheik Salman, who is from Bahrain, is said to have submitted his nominations to FIFA on Sunday night despite opposition from human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch who released a statement on Monday.
His entry into the election throws the contest wide open - he had previously backed UEFA president Platini until his suspension, commands widespread support in Asia and is a close ally of influential Olympic powerbroker Sheik Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah from Kuwait.
Platini is still hopeful of being able to run despite being suspended by FIFA's ethics committee for 90 days pending a disciplinary hearing into a £1.3million payment signed off by outgoing president Sepp Blatter in 2011.
The other candidates announced so far are: South Africa's Tokyo Sexwale, a former anti-apartheid activist who was imprisoned on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela; Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan; David Nakhid, former Trinidad and Tobago player; and former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne. Also Nigerian duo of Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State in the Southeastern Nigeria and Chief Segun Odegbami {Mathematical Odegbami} a former Nigeria's National football team captain have indicated interested in the position with suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter openly backing the former.
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