We will vote: Salahuddin
With the whole world glued to the FIFA headquarters in Zurich for the last two days ever since the football's governing body was rocked by the arrest of its seven officials by the Swiss police in the wee hours of Wednesday, the biggest question doing the rounds at the moment is if Friday's election for the FIFA presidency would take place.
UEFA, the sport's European governing body, has called for the presidential vote to be postponed and was meeting yesterday to decide whether to boycott the election where Sepp Blatter is seeking a fifth term for the hottest seat. Blatter's rival for the FIFA presidency is Prince Ali bin al Hussein, a FIFA vice-president from Jordan.
Although Bangladesh, one of the 209 FIFA members, is there to more importantly fill the numbers than any other serious concerns, a lot of people in this part of the world however are quite keen to know what is BFF's (the governing body of Bangladesh football) stance after these extraordinary happenings in Zurich.
"I'm feeling very uncomfortable at this moment. I have attended four previous FIFA Congresses, but this one is certainly very nervy with a lot of things happening around us," said BFF president Kazi Salahuddin over telephone to The Daily Star Sport on Thursday afternoon.
Salahuddin is now in Zurich along with BFF vice-president Arif Khan Joy, who is also the deputy sports minister, and BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Sohag to attend the FIFA Congress.
Besides, Salahuddin will vote for Bangladesh if the presidential election takes place today.
Asked if he would vote for a president in the wake of the controversy that embroiled the FIFA after so many arrests following bribery probe in the US, Salauddin said: "I will cast my vote if there is an election for the FIFA presidency on Friday."
But the magnificent striker of the 70s and early 80s refused to comment who he would vote for.
Although Blatter, the 79-year-old Swiss, is now the public enemy number one in Europe following the awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia, and especially the 2022 edition to Qatar, he remained still popular in the other parts of the world including Asia.
Blatter made two visits to Bangladesh with the last one on March 6 in 2012. At that time he inaugurated the artificial turf, funded by the FIFA, and the Football Academy in Sylhet.
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