October 31 – The AFC Congress approved changes to its statutes at its Kuala Lumpur Annual Congress today that both recognised the confederation’s regional diversity and allowed for a wider nominations process in presidential elections.
Taken as a block vote, the congress voted overwhelmingly 42-4 to approve both statute changes.
The only contested statute change was around the proposal for candidates for the office of the AFC President to be nominated by at least three Member Associations – but not necessarily by the Member Association they represent.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia had protested that the rule that nominations had to be from the candidate’s home association should not be changed, sparking speculation that they could bring geo-political pressure on Bahrain not to nominate AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa.
Explaining the reason for the proposal, AFC’s head of its legal committee Makhdoom Syed Faisel Saleh Hayat, said it was “logical and fair and consistent with good governance to allow any member of the AFC to nominate the candidate of their choosing.” He also said that “FIFA had confirmed the proposal was fully in line with FIFA statutes”.
Hence the vote went ahead but for many was being seen as a vote for or against Salman, rather than a vote for good governance. Of the four against the proposal, eyebrows were raised that one of them was Uzbekistan.
It was only on September 25 that the Uzbeks had declared support for Salman, prompting speculation that they were pursuing their own agenda in central Asia and had west Asian support for that.
The other statute change was far less politically loaded, with the five Asian Regional Associations (Asean, Central Asia, East Asian, South Asia and West Asia) now having formal AFC recognition.
“We have now formalised our great relationship with the five AFC regional associations. Today, we officially recognised and welcomed them as partners to our mission to develop the game in Asia,” said Salman.
“The Regional Associations are another of our strong links to the Member Associations and we must support them and work with them.”
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