Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein, the head of the Jordanian FA, hailed Malta FA president Norman Darmanin Demajo as the catalyst behind his decision to contest the FIFA presidential election in May.

Addressing the UEFA congress in Vienna earlierthis week, Prince Ali said: “I am particularly grateful to a colleague who visited Jordan one year ago and came up with a concept to unify FIFA’s work in this field.

“That colleague is the president of the Malta FA.

“Thank you Norman (Darmanin Demajo). I want to translate your vision into reality.”

Darmanin Demajo was reportedly asked by UEFA president Michel Platini to visit a refugee camp in Jordan around a year ago and it was during this visit that the MFA chief and Prince Ali discussed the vision of unifying the confederations within FIFA.

Earlier this year, Darmanin Demajo announced that the Malta FA was backing Prince Ali’s candidacy for the FIFA presidency.

Prince Ali, Michael van Praag, the president of the Dutch FA, and Luis Figo, the former Portugal stalwart, outlined their plans and objectives for the future of FIFA if they won the May 29 election but the much-criticised Blatter declined UEFA’s invitation to address the Congress as a FIFA presidential candidate.

In his lengthy speech, Prince Ali said he was proud to be endorsed by member associations from three different confederations but singled out the four UEFA associations who had pledged their backing to him.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Members of UEFA who had the courage to grant me their support, Belarus, England, Georgia, and Malta,” Prince Ali said.