It’s official — football will go to the polls in February.
The election to decide Sepp Blatter’s successor as FIFA president will go ahead on February 26, 2016 — soccer’s global governing body has confirmed.
After Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini were both provisionally banned for 90 days by FIFA’s Ethics Committee in the wake of a Swiss criminal investigation, it had been suggested the election could be delayed.
However, FIFA’s Executive Committee confirmed following a meeting Tuesday that there has been no change to the plan.
“The Executive Committee also confirmed 26 February 2016 as the date for the elective extraordinary congress,” read a FIFA statement.
The meeting in Zurich was the first time in over 40 years that FIFA’s executive committee has met without Blatter.
African football chief Issa Hayatou is in temporary control of FIFA in the 79-year-old’s absence.
Platini and Blatter were hit with their bans amid an investigation into a “disloyal” $2 million payment from the Swiss to the UEFA president Platini in 2011 for work allegedly carried out between 1999 and 2002.
Platini had been the favorite to succeed Blatter as FIFA president, and despite the suspension he was backed by UEFA’s 54 member nations last week.
Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein and former Trinidad and Tobago midfielder David Nakhid have also already announced their candidacy, with Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain also expected to do so before the October 26 deadline.
