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Liberian FA president Musa Bility confirms FIFA presidential challenge

Liberian football association president Musa Bility is to join the race to become the next FIFA president.

Bility told the Associated Press he had sent FIFA his nominations from the necessary five member federations, giving Africa two contenders in what is currently a seven-strong field.

The 48-year-old said: "I don't want to go into any race that I cannot win. I wanted to make sure that it was worth going into the campaign."

His campaign manager Edwin Snowe travelled to the Zurich headquarters of world football's governing body to submit the application.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Bility said: "If we are to change football, we have to make sure that those have been running FIFA for the last 20 to 25 years have nothing to do with it."

#INSERT type:image caption:Musa Bility believes he could become the new FIFA president. END#

Soon after the development, UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino was backed by the organisation's executive committee as a candidate.

The members of UEFA's executive committee recommended that Infantino -- Michel Platini's right-hand man for the last six years -- be nominated.

Platini has also submitted his candidacy but is banned from football for 90 days pending a disciplinary hearing into a £1.3 million payment to him that was signed off by outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2011.

Earlier, the Asian Football Confederation president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, became the sixth man to submit his candidacy for the presidency, according to the official Bahrain news agency.

Earlier on Monday, the agency reported that Sheikh Salman had formally declared his intention to run in Zurich on Sunday evening.

The Bahraini royal family member, who had until Monday to declare his candidacy, will be running against another Arab royal, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan.

Other contenders are Platini, South African tycoon Tokyo Sexwale, ex-FIFA official Jerome Champagne and David Nakhid, a former player from Trinidad and Tobago.

Blatter, 79, won a fifth term as FIFA president earlier this year but laid out resignation plans soon afterwards as criminal investigations into FIFA officials gathered momentum.