CAS dismiss Nakhid's FIFA presidency appeal

David Nakhid's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over FIFA's refusal to accept his candidacy for the presidential election has been denied.

The former Trinidad and Tobago midfielder submitted his bid with the backing of the required five federations, but he was deemed ineligible by the FIFA Ad-hoc Electoral Committee (AEC) as one of the member associations had also supported another candidate.

Nakhid filed an appeal with CAS which he hoped would overturn the decision and enable him to stand in February's election to replace outgoing president Sepp Blatter, but CAS dismissed his case.

"The CAS has dismissed the appeal and upheld the FIFA AEC decision," a statement said.

"In appealing to the CAS on November 13, 2015, Mr Nakhid sought the annulment of the challenged decision and an order that his candidacy be reinstated.

"In line with the FIFA AEC, the CAS Panel found that one member association had issued declarations of support to two candidates, including one for Mr Nakhid, in violation of the applicable FIFA rules.

"As a consequence, those letters of support were disregarded, meaning that David Nakhid had not met the qualifying criterion of obtaining declarations of support from at least five member associations, and accordingly, his candidature could not be validated."