April 21- Irish FA president David Martin (pictured) has been elected as a FIFA vice-president after winning the vote for the position reserved for the four British associations.
Martin succeeds former English Football Association chair Greg Clarke, who was forced to stand down last November after making a series of offensive remarks about “coloured” players.
Martin, 67, won a landslide victory over Scottish FA vice-president Michael Mulraney and Football Association of Wales president Kieran O’Connor at the UEFA Congress in Switzerland on Tuesday, gaining 48 of the 55 votes.
Following Harry Cavan and Jim Boyce, Martin becomes the third Northern Irishman to be given the powerful and prestigious role, which has a £190,000 salary plus expenses.
Martin, who lost out to Clarke for the same vote in 2019, will serve a two-year term at a crucial time, representing all four UK associations as they weigh up a joint bid with Ireland for the 2030 World Cup.
There was not such good news for Laura McAllister who failed to unseat Evelina Christillin of Italy in her bid to be UEFA’s female representative on the FIFA Council.
McAllister, a former Wales international, is deputy chair of UEFA’s women’s football committee and was hoping to become the organisation’s first female FIFA council member to have also played at senior level.
She was given a fighting chance of upsetting the present incumbent, eventually losing by 33 votes to 22 in the straight majority ballot.
“I’m obviously disappointed with the result, although we knew it was always going to be an extremely difficult task to unseat an incumbent,” she said. “The fact that we were just six votes short of winning the election is hopefully testament to the modern, professional and football-focused campaign that we ran.
“My commitment to our beautiful game and its core values remains as strong as ever and I will redouble my efforts to make football a game for everyone to enjoy. I hope I can stand for election again as my enthusiasm to drive change is undiminished.”
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