FIFA Reportedly Considering Delaying Presidential Elections

FIFA will hold an emergency executive committee meeting to discuss a possible delay to next year's presidential elections.

So reports Sky News' sports correspondent Paul Kelso, who shares when the meeting is due to take place:

As Owen Gibson of the Guardian reports, the election is due to be held on February 26, but following the bans of current president Sepp Blatter and vice-president Michel Platini by FIFA's ethics committee, several members of their executive committee have called for the crisis talks.

Per the report, one such member was Michel D'Hooghe, who said: "I am one of the members asking for an emergency meeting of the Fifa ExCo. At the moment I have no information about an eventual postponing of the election but perhaps this point could be discussed there."

On Thursday, BBC Sport reported the pair had been suspended from all football activity for 90 days, though as Reuters' Simon Evans notes, that could be extended by a further 45 days.

Sang Tan/Associated Press

Barring appeals, Blatter and Platini therefore won't be returning to their duties until January 6 at the earliest—less than two months before the scheduled election, in which the latter is hoping to replace the former.

Should the ban be extended, Platini would have even less time before the election.

In that case, Scottish FA chief executive Stewart Regan believes it should be delayed in the interest of fairness.

Per Evans, he said: "If the extra 45 days is added...then I think logic would dictate that the election should be postponed to such a time when all the eligible candidates have time to prepare their campaigns without any risk of those campaigns being compromised by any investigation."

As Gibson notes, delaying the election could help Platini's campaign as it would allow him more time to prepare for the election following his return to his duties at FIFA and as UEFA's president.

The ban by the ethics committee casts a serious shadow over the Frenchman's suitability for the role, though.

Provided he even remains eligible following the investigation into the corruption allegations dogging himself and Blatter, it's wholly possible he'll no longer enjoy the same level of support in the elections.