And then there were five. Reports surfaced Thursday that Michel Platini, previously considered the frontrunner for the vacant FIFA presidency, is dropping out of the race.
Platini is facing an eight-year ban from soccer activity from the FIFA ethics committee, and has reportedy dropped out of the presidential race to concentrate on fighting it.
The ban stems from a 2 million Swiss Franc payment made to Platini by then-FIFA President Sepp Blatter that was judged by the FIFA ethics committee to be not-so-ethical.
This leaves Sheikh Salman, Prince Ali, Jerome Champagne, Gianni Infantino and Tokyo Sexwale as the remaining candidates for the FIFA presidency. And yes those are all real names.
The FIFA presidency will be decided at an extraordinary FIFA congress on Feb. 26.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus