Gianni Infantino’s bid for the presidency of world soccer body FIFA to lead it out of the worst graft scandal in its history was given a lift yesterday when the Swiss lawyer won “overwhelming” backing from Europe’s football associations.

Infantino, general secretary of European soccer body UEFA, entered the race to succeed disgraced president Sepp Blatter initially as a stop-gap candidate after UEFA head and FIFA presidential candidate Michel Platini was suspended pending an ethics investigation in October.

But when Platini was banned for eight years from all football activities by FIFA’s ethics committee last month, Infantino became a candidate in his own right and has since been travelling the world canvassing votes.

UEFA also said in a statement it would not schedule a presidential election to replace Platini until the Frenchman’s appeal process had been completed.

“We hope his name is cleared and that he can return to the European football family as quickly as possible.”

The 53 European members of FIFA met yesterday afternoon and UEFA said in a statement following the meeting that they would back Infantino, a move which was not unexpected but still a significant boost to his campaign.

“UEFA’s national associations overwhelmingly expressed their support for Gianni and will officially announce their individual positions in due course,” said UEFA.

FIFA’s 209 member associations each have one vote in the election. Infantino is one of five candidates, two of them European, standing in the Feb. 26 election.

Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne of France, South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale and former FIFA Exco member Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, of Jordan, are Infantino’s rivals.