By Andrew Warshaw
April 5 – Supporters of Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa insist he is emerging as the favourite to win the race to become the next President of the Asian Football Confederation.
Sheikh Salman, attending the same Kuala Lumpur gathering as his three election rivals, met members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) this week where he presented his “Asia United” campaign.
“Sheikh Salman is gradually becoming the frontrunner for these elections,” Bahrain FA technical director and competitions committee head Hassan Ismail told Gulf News.
“He has been very busy meeting with the members of the different football federations across Asia, and each time he does so his campaign gets stronger as he continues to win over support from many countries.”
Sheikh Salman, who is also fighting to gain a FIFA executive committee seat, believes he is the best man to clean up Asian football after a series of management and corruption scandals. But United Arab Emirates FA boss Yousef al Serkal, one of his opponents for AFC president, launches his own reform manifesto on Monday in Dubai as the lobbying by all four candidates intensifies with three weeks to go until the May 2 ballot.
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