Mr. Platini was seen as a suitable bridge candidate for president, an executive who has an interest in reform — he pushed for greater financial accountability rules while leading European soccer, for example — but also has a track record with the old-guard FIFA officials, the ones most hesitant to change.

If a complete overhaul of FIFA is impossible — and given how long things have been the way they have been, that is probably ambitious — then Mr. Platini was largely seen as the most palatable option.

Now, however, the tinge of corruption may mar him, too. Yes, he deserves the presumption of innocence, and yes, there may well be a fair explanation for the payment. But Mr. Platini has already admitted that he was not completely ethical with his vote for the 2022 World Cup. He initially told United States officials he would vote for them but then changed his mind and voted for Qatar after a meeting with Qatari royalty and the president of France. So he does not bring a completely clean slate into this latest discussion.

To some of the 209 FIFA member federations, that may be an indication that Mr. Platini is a little too shaded toward the old guard and not progressive enough to lead FIFA in the direction it so desperately needs to go. Mr. Platini has surely had the backing of the European nations, and the Asian confederation has said it would support him. But after Friday, and with the prospect of a suspension looming, nothing seems quite as certain as it did.

Who are the other potential candidates? Chung Mong-joon of South Korea; Musa Bility of Liberia; and Zico, a former star player for Brazil, have declared their interest.

The most established candidate outside of Mr. Platini is Prince Ali bin Hussein of Jordan, who ran in May’s election and received 73 votes in a loss to Mr. Blatter. Prince Ali has tried to position himself as the strong outsider — although, it should be noted, he did serve as a FIFA vice president from 2011 to 2015 — and has repeatedly trumpeted the need for significant change.

On Saturday, he did so again, issuing a statement that said, in part, “We have to accept that changing FIFA is not a matter of choice; it has already changed, shaken to its very core by the scandals that have decimated our governing body and cast a cloud over the entire organization.”