On Soccer: How Prince Ali Could Win the Election to Be FIFA President

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Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan in Zurich on Thursday.

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Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

ZURICH — Every candidate, in every election, tries to picture a path to victory. The FIFA presidential election here on Friday is no different.

While most observers see the ballot as largely a two-horse race between Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain and Gianni Infantino of Switzerland, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan and his supporters envision a different outcome: A multiballot voting process that ends with Prince Ali leapfrogging to victory.

According to several high-ranking soccer officials who have discussed the situation with the campaigns, the crucial confederation in such a chain of events would be Europe.

Is such a development likely? Maybe, maybe not. But here is how those backing Prince Ali, who lost to the former FIFA president Sepp Blatter in May, imagine things playing out:

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