Sadly, the AFC presidential and FIFA Executive Committee elections in Asia promise to deliver another battle-field of smear and grime. Some of the protagonists are set to disappear into their self-made trenches of libel and slander, while one (or two) others are quietly watching from the side-lines at present, but ready to hit the unsuspecting contenders at the opportune moment.
Sri Lankan Vernon Manilal Fernando has been eliminated from proceedings. Temporarily, they say. Conveniently, he was ousted by FIFA’s corruption Czar right at the beginning of a campaign season that promises to display similar ‘dirt-wars’ to those witnessed in 2009 when it was “only” a fight for a FIFA ExCo seat rather than a full blown assault on the top of the mountain.
Why is that relevant today – not just in terms of yet another FIFA ExCo Member having been removed for alleged wrongdoing – and how can it influence the outcome of both elections, the one for the post of AFC President as well as the election of a new Member to FIFA’s ExCo?
Most media have – correctly – reported that Vernon Manilal Fernando was a staunch ally of Mohamed Bin Hammam who resigned from all football (only to be, somewhat superfluously, banned by FIFA the next day). Fernando was an opponent of Sheikh Salman on previous bloody battlefields, Bin Hammam’s arch enemy.
What few pundits have so far reported is an interesting twist that took place in terms of alliances. And alliances are what matter in football, aren’t they? Not only in Asia. Everywhere.
The recent “hard (electioneering) labour of a Kuwaiti kind” has apparently resulted in a love-fest being staged for Bahraini Sheikh Salman’s benefit: a new love that emerged out of the blue from some quarters, but already existed in others. Fernando quietly declared his preference for the man who dirt-warred Bin Hammam in 2009 and who had employed some pretty shady characters to do his nasty work. It didn’t work out so well for him then – he lost.
But this time round, he seems better prepared, although his alliances are pretty much the same as last time. This time, Sheikh Salman has secured the 7/8 votes that Fernando claimed to control (those in his direct vicinity: he was uncertain about the other 4/5 from Central Asia). And again, it is the Kuwaiti Royal who intervened in his buddy’s favour. He ‘turned’ the Sri Lankan cement emperor Fernando and ascertained his support for the Sheikh who has been dying to be the AFC’s numero uno. With Fernando “out of service”, his allies may now be looking for a new direction.
With “Fernando, the Enforcer” gone, and Thailand’s Makudi counting at least 12 votes to start with, good old Salman will need all the Royal help he can muster. And while he does have that help – albeit from and via the OCA – he also has a serious new enemy – or better: competitor – who is not running against him as a presidential candidate but will certainly give him a warm time in his pursuit of the FIFA ExCo seat that is also up for grabs. Qatar’s Hassan al Thawadi, the young CEO of the Qatar World Cup bid and now the CEO of the LOC for Qatar 22 , has thrown his hat into the ring.
As for the presidential run, the quiet folk from the U.A.E and Saudi have not yet spoken. Well, at least not much. But they will not stay quiet for much longer.