UEFA president Michel Platini.

Malta FA officials have assumed a prominent role in a robust UEFA campaign to try and unseat beleaguered FIFA president Sepp Blatter in the wake of the scandal that has engulfed football after seven senior officials of the world governing body were arrested on US corruption charges on Wednesday.

Norman Darmanin Demajo, the Malta FA president, is cautiously optimistic that Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein will give Blatter a stern challenge in today’s presidential election at the FIFA Congress in Zurich as over 40 of Europe’s eligible voting nations are expected to vote for the head of the Jordan FA.

“In my speech at the UEFA meeting, I said that I’m proud that the MFA was one of the associations that nominated Prince Ali for the FIFA presidential election,” Darmanin Demajo told Times of Malta.

“It was our belief that we couldn’t afford to go for a FIFA presidential vote without a credible candidate to challenge Sepp Blatter.”

Darmanin Demajo’s appeal for UEFA’s member associations not to be indifferent and vote for change was reinforced by Michel Platini, the president of the European body.

“There is a strong feeling that things are changing,” Darmanin Demajo said.

“We have good reason to believe that at least 40 of Europe’s votes will go to Prince Ali and that’s very encouraging.

Reports were rife yesterday morning that UEFA were leaning towards a boycott of the FIFA Congress but Darmanin Demajo said that was never an option.

“Bjorn (Vassallo) and I have spoken to virtually all the officials of the UEFA associations,” Darmanin Demajo said.

“That suggestion didn’t reflect the views of the presidents of the majority of the European associations.

“Surely, we didn’t want to give Blatter a walkover in the election. A boycott was never an option.”

Bjorn Vassallo, the Malta FA general secretary, echoed Darmanin Demajo’s words. He argued that the proposal to shun today’s presidential election made no sense in the context of Wednesday’s dramatic events.

“We didn’t agree with the idea that UEFA should boycott the election,” Vassallo said.

“We have spoken to several people at the top level of UEFA.

“The idea didn’t make sense. Our argument was that we should go for the election and try to garner as many votes for Prince Ali as possible.”

The MFA general secretary stressed that safeguarding the integrity of the game should be a top priority for all those who have football at heart.

“The integrity of the game is of paramount importance,” Vassallo said. “We can’t tolerate a situation where people in football are staining the image of the game.

“Although the Malta FA is a small association, we have always endeavoured to make ourselves heard.”

Vassallo believes that this is the best time to push for change at the summit of FIFA, adding that a strong show of support in favour of Prince Ali would send out a strong message to Blatter and FIFA.