The development suggests that electoral horse-trading might be about to begin in the battle to replace Sepp Blatter as head of football’s world governing body.

Spokesmen for the frontrunners, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Gianni Infantino, and for Sexwale confirmed they will be in Doha for a game on Saturday and to meet with Asian member associations of FIFA.

A spokesman for Jordanian Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, also a candidate, later confirmed he would be travelling to Qatar for Saturday’s game – the final of the Asian Football Confederation Under-23 Championship between South Korea and Japan.

The other candidates, Jerome Champagne, a former FIFA deputy general secretary, declined to comment on whether he would also be in Qatar.

Speaking on South Africa’s Metro FM radio, Sexwale confirmed that he would also be in Qatar as a “guest of Sheikh Salman” and hinted at eventual support for an Asian candidate.

“The time for alliances is coming. This is the new thing that I am saying. It is healthy, democratic and it is good.

“If I see that Tokyo’s chances are not good … I am still FIFA, but which president would I want? The time for alliances will come,” he said. That time would be before the February 26 vote, he said.

“We are now talking, this one is talking to me, that one is talking to me. But who is talking? We are brothers, we are colleagues, we are comrades in arms,” Sexwale said.

One of the key power brokers in world sport, Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fadah Al-Sabah, told Reuters in October that he hoped his ally Sheikh Salman, the Asian football chief, and Infantino, the general secretary of the European football body, UEFA, would strike a deal before the vote.

“I hope there will not be a difficult situation, I hope there will be a coordination and we will find a solution,” he said.

Both Salman and Infantino have denied any deal is in place.

Sexwale declined to discuss directly whether he would withdraw from the election but said he wanted to see an African or an Asian become the next president.

“There is this desperation of ‘withdraw’, ‘withdraw’. In whose interest?” he asked.

“Let me tell you my strategy … what is the bottom line? It is not Tokyo Sexwale,” he said.

“The bottom line for me, and I am appealing to Europe, to European voters, with the support of Europe let’s have an Asian or African president. That is the bottom line.”

Sexwale’s campaign has been criticised by his own South African Football Federation. Although it stated its support for him this week, the group said his bid had been “low key” and asked him to “come and explain himself”.

The South African, who was imprisoned in Robben Island during apartheid and was a close friend of Nelson Mandela, suggested Infantino would not be the right choice, as another Swiss following Blatter, who has been president since 1998.

Meanwhile, an important witness has offered information to help criminal proceedings against ousted president Blatter, according to the Swiss attorney general’s office.

Spokesman Andre Marty said in an interview with TV programme “Morgenmagazin”, broadcast on German channel ARD, that it should be clear by the end of 2016 to mid-2017 whether there was evidence to bring a charge against Blatter, whose presidency has ended with the worst corruption scandal in FIFA’s history.

“In the name of the office of the attorney general of Switzerland I can confirm that a witness has given us interesting information that is relevant for the case and should be essential for the investigation,” Marty said in an emailed statement.

In the TV interview, Marty used the term “whistleblower” to describe the witness, suggesting he might be a FIFA insider. He declined to comment on that point in the emailed statement.

Swiss prosecutors last year opened a criminal investigation of individuals on suspicion of mismanagement and money laundering related to allocation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.

In September the Swiss attorney general’s office also announced that it had opened a criminal investigation into FIFA president Sepp Blatter over a $US2million payment made by FIFA to European soccer boss Michel Platini.

The payment was made in 2011 for work completed in 2002 by Platini, who has been described as being between a “witness and an accused person” by Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber.

Blatter and Platini, who were subsequently banned for eight years each by FIFA’s own ethics committee, have denied wrongdoing. A new president will be elected in February.

A criminal investigation is also under way in the United States where 41 individuals, including a number of leading football federation presidents and FIFA officials, and sports entities have been indicted.

-Reuters