Confederation of African Football vice-president Suketu Patel expects 53 of his continent's 54 member associations to vote for Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa in the FIFA presidential election on Friday.

Patel's prediction on Thursday came after CAF's executive committee had unanimously voted to back the Bahraini Sheikh last month. Voting in Friday's election is secret, and FAs are free to vote for whichever candidate they choose.

Swiss candidate Gianni Infantino said on Monday he was confident of taking more than half the votes from Africa. A total of 207 votes are to be cast to select the new head of world soccer. 

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