MANAMA: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president should automatically be on world body FIFA’s executive committee instead of having to go through a separate vote, Bahraini soccer head Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said yesterday.
Sheikh Salman is standing for both positions at a May 2 vote in Kuala Lumpur but Hassan al Thawadi, leader of Qatar’s winning 2022 World Cup bid, is seeking election only to FIFA’s top committee.
“How can we have a president who cannot have our voice in FIFA?” the Bahraini, who felt he was favourite to win the AFC presidency, said in an interview in his Manama office.
“Those two positions should be in one. To have a candidate running for just one post and not another I regard as a compromise, a weak position just to accept what they can get,” he added.
The executive committee position is a five-year term running to 2017 while the vote for AFC president will elect a new Asian soccer head for two years to replace Qatari Mohamed Bin Hammam.
Bin Hammam has been banned for life by FIFA for corruption and bribery and his place has been filled temporarily by China’s Zhang Jilong. Four candidates are vying for the presidency, three of them from the Gulf region and the other being Thailand’s FIFA executive committee member Worawi Makudi.
The Bahraini positioned himself, as the outsider who could step in and clean up Asian soccer’s corrupted image.
Tackling the scourge of match-fixing in Asia would be a clear priority, with zero tolerance for offenders and enlisting the help of governments, as well as treating all national associations as equals no matter how big or small.
“I think people have sensed the wind of change,” said the man who lost the AFC vote for the FIFA seat 23-21 to Bin Hammam in 2009. REUTERS
