David Nakhid excluded from FIFA Presidency race as seven candidates are confirmed

David Nakhid has not been named as a Presidential candidate by FIFA, despite stating his intention to run ©Getty Images

Former Trinidad and Tobago footballer David Nakhid has not been included on FIFA's confirmed list of candidates for its upcoming Presidential election.

The 51-year-old was expected to be in the running after earlier confirming his candidacy, but was absent from a list of names released by football's world governing body today.

He did receive the backing of five National Federations - a requirement for anyone wishing to stand for President - but it emerged that one of these countries had also backed another candidate, invalidating Nakhid's ability to run.

"In view of this, the committee decided not to consider Mr Nakhid’s application as it did not fulfill the required five declarations of support,” FIFA said in a statement.

There were no further surprises on the shortlist with the runners and riders in the race to succeed Sepp Blatter now confirmed as Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, Musa Bility, Jérôme Champagne, Michel Platini, Gianni Infantino, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Tokyo Sexwale.

Anyone wishing to put themselves forward had until a deadline yesterday to lodge their intentions.

Out of the remaining candidacies, UEFA President Platini's is the most intriguing as the 60-year-old Frenchman remains banned from football and doubt surrounds his entire campaign.

Along with Blatter, the former midfielder was handed a 90-day suspension by the FIFA Ethics Committee this month after a probe into a CHF 2 million (£1.3 million/$2.1 million/€1.8 million) payment made to him by the departing President, which was supposedly not in the interests of the organisation and "disloyal".

Michel Platini has been named by FIFA but there are still huge doubts about whether he can run — Michel Platini has been named by FIFA but there are still huge doubts about whether he will be able to stand ©Getty Images

Because of this, FIFA's Ad-hoc Electoral Committee will not yet process his candidature but he holds onto a glimmer of hope as should he not be under any sanctions before the election on February 26, his case will be re-examined.

"The Ad-hoc Electoral Committee would decide, depending on the respective exact point in time, on how to proceed with the candidature concerned," FIFA confirmed today.

Platini's 90-day suspension is due to expire on January 5, although the Ethics Committee does have the power to trigger a 45-day extension.

The six remaining candidates will now be reviewed to see that they are in line with FIFA's rules for the Presidency.

Integrity checks will also be carried out by the Ethics Committee, with "comprehensive documentation" produced on each candidate, although it will not give a recommendation on if anybody should or should not run.

After this process, the Electoral Committee will reconvene to review the submissions, before officially declaring the candidates who are eligible to stand.

The February election will take place at an extraordinary congress in Zurich, after Blatter announced his decision to step down just two days after winning a fifth term in office in June.

He opted to depart as scandal embroiled his organisation, following the arrest of FIFA officials at their Zurich hotel amid corruption allegations, as well as ongoing investigations in both the United States and Switzerland.

Infantino is the current Secretary General of UEFA, and was put forward by Europe's governing body in what can perhaps be seen as a "back-up plan" due to Platini's crumbling campaign.

Champagne attempted to enter the earlier race this year but failed to secure the necessary backing, while Prince Ali was defeated by Blatter in that election.

Bility heads up the Liberian Football Association, while South African businessman Sexwale was a member of the team that successfully bid for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in his home country.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) chief Sheikh Salman remains favourite though, despite allegations that he was complicit in the torture and arrests of Bahraini athletes in 2011.

He has described these claims as "nasty lies".