The decision from Thorsteinsson left European football's governing body with just three candidates for four positions on the body.

Hungary's Sandor Csyani, Cyprus' Costakis Koutsokoumnis and Montenegro's Dejan Savicevic are set to be elected unopposed to the FIFA Council during UEFA's Congress in Helsinki on April 5.

They will formally join the Council at FIFA's Congress in Bahrain on May 11.

Each will serve four-year terms, with Germany’s Reinhard Grindel, who is set to replace banned predecessor Wolfgang Niersbach, the only candidate for the two-year role.

The person who is elected at the Extraordinary Congress - the date and location of which has not yet been announced - will complete UEFA's eight-strong contingent on the 37-member FIFA Council.

UEFA do have the power to allow its Executive Committee to organise a ballot for such an election but FIFA's statutes require a four-month campaign that allows time to conduct eligibility checks on potential candidates.

"As a consequence of Mr. Thorsteinsson's withdrawal, UEFA will need to hold an additional election to designate a further European representative for a four-year term to the FIFA Council, and an Extraordinary UEFA Congress will therefore be organised later this year at a date to be decided in due course," a UEFA statement read.

Thorsteinsson was due to join the other three officials in securing a place on the body.

Changes made by UEFA’s Executive Committee last month mean, however, that candidates for senior positions must hold an active office in their respective National Association.

Thorsteinsson recently retired as the President of the Icelandic Football Association, following a fifth two-year term, and he vowed to stand down to support the good governance measures introduced by UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin.

His withdrawal came after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko was barred from standing for re-election to the Council after he failed an eligibility check due to his role within the Government.

"We would like to confirm that UEFA was notified last week that Geir Thorsteinsson successfully passed the FIFA eligibility checks to become a candidate for the FIFA Council elections," a UEFA statement read. 

"UEFA was also informed of the decision of Geir Thorsteinsson to withdraw his candidature for the FIFA Council as he no longer is the active President of the Icelandic Football Association.

"Mr. Thorsteinsson felt this was the right decision in order to be aligned with the principles of good governance he believes in, and which have been strongly advocated by UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin, in particular relating to having only active members representing the interests of football associations in executive bodies."