August 24 – Former FIFA executive committee Worawi Makudi’s last-ditch attempt to regain some kind of foothold within global or Asian football has failed after he withdrew from the election for the presidency of the 12-member Asean Football Federation (AFF) on the eve of the vote.
The controversial Thai, who spent 18 years at FIFA’s top table before being replaced, withdrew at the eleventh allowing Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang to retain the position at elections in Myanmar.
The Association of South-East Asian Nations, to give it its full name, has 10 full members, one candidate member state, and one observer state.
The sultan, a former President of the Malaysian FA, called on all south-east Asian nations to put aside any differences and work together. “It is of utmost importance that there is continuity in the leadership of a federation,” he said.
Makudi was recently sentenced to a suspended jail term after being found to have falsified documents during a 2013 Thai Presidential election campaign. He is appealing the 16-month sentence but his long career as a senior international football administrator now seems over.
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