October 5 – Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa will run opposed for the AFC presidency in the upcoming Asian confederation elections, the fourth time he will be chosen to run football in the region.
His first term in 2013 was filling in an unexpired term following the disgraced departure of Mohamed bin Hamman who beat Shaikh Salman in a bitterly contested election in 2011 that fractured the Asian nations and their solidarity.
Since then Shaikh Salman has led the confederation though a major revision of its development programmes and competition structures with more nations competitive on an international basis than ever before.
He also oversaw the engineering of a major revision of the confederation’s commercial structures and the introduction of a new long term commercial and marketing partner.
Perhaps the biggest challenge has been the covid pandemic which hit Asia first and which the confederation is only now returning to full play from. It is a testament to his diplomacy within the vast geographic expanse of the AFC’s footprint and his personal touch with his Asian national federation members that this has been achieved without major loss of competition or commercial structure.
The AFC presidency comes with a seat on the FIFA Bureau where Shaikh Salman, as the longest serving confederation president is FIFA’s senior vice president. He is also the chair of FIFA’s development committee.
The AFC will stage a full set of elections at its next congress for five AFC vice-presidencies, six FIFA Council memberships and 14 spots on the AFC executive committee.
Lebanon’s Hachem Haidar, Iran Mehdi Taj, Kyrgyz’s Dastanbek Konokbaev, Bhutan’s Ugen Tsechup, Myanmar’s Zaw Zaw and Mongolia’s Ganbaatar Amgalanbaatar will seek the position of vice-president.
China’s Du Zhaocai, Japan’s Kohzo Tashima, Korea’s Mong Gyu Chong, Malaysia’s Haji Amin, Philippines’ Mariano Araneta, Qatar’s Sheikha Hamad Al Thani and Saudi Arabia’s Yasser Almishehal will contest six seats on the FIFA Council. Araneta, Du Zhaocai and Tashima are current members of the Council. With Saoud Al Mohannadi, Qatar has a representative on FIFA’s apex council. Praful Patel, who exited the AIFF via the back door, will not stand for reelection.
Palestine’s Susan Shalabi, Bangladesh’s Mahfuza Akhter, Laos’ Kanya Keomany, Tapei’s Liu Fang and North Korea’s Han Un Gyong will serve as female members on the executive committee, with five seats reserved for women.
The further nine executive committee seats will be disputed by Iraq’s Adnan Motar, Jordan’s Louie Oumeish, Kuwait’s Abdullah Alrabeea, Oman’s Salem Al Wahaibi, UAE’s Abdullah Aljneibi, Turkmenistan’s Arslan Aynazarov, Uzbekistan’s Irmatov Ravshan, India’s Shaji Prabhakaran, Maldives’ Bassam Jaleel, Nepal’s Pankaj Nembang, Australia’s Chris Nikou, Thailand’s Somyot Poompanmoung, Vietnam’s Tran Tuan and Hong Kong’s Eric Fok.
All candidates will be subject to an eligibility check.
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