By Paul Nicholson
January 18 – FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan has accused rival candidate Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of trying to engineer a bloc vote for himself in the upcoming FIFA presidential elections with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Asian (AFC) and African (CAF) confederations.
Prince Ali is so furious about the co-operation agreement that he has even questioned whether AFC president Shaikh Salman and stand-in FIFA president and CAF president Issa Hayatou have the authority to sign a co-operation agreement between their confederations, even going so far as to suggest that the executive committees of both confederations might not have given their support (presuming that they hadn’t and that it was needed).
“The timing of this MOU (memorandum of understanding) between the AFC and the CAF looks like a blatant attempt to engineer a bloc vote,” said Prince Ali.
“Questions must be asked: was this deal approved by the members of the executive committees of both the AFC and CAF and is the timing of the announcement, prior to a presidential election, acceptable?”
Prince Ali has sent a letter of complaint to FIFA’s electoral committee which was lodged after the MoU signing rather than before.
For a candidate that has so assiduously courted and won the attention of the western media in particular over two presidential campaigns (he lost the first to Sepp Blatter last May), the complaint over the MoU and the potential goodwill it creates seems a little disingenuous, though his frustration is perhaps understandable in what is becoming an increasingly intense political battle that has not been going his way.
Last week Prince Ali was in Kigali, Rwanda, meeting African federations prior to the opening of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) this weekend. So too were Shaikh Salman and UEFA’s FIFA candidate Gianni Infantino.
Prince Ali is understood to have had a meeting request with Hayatou turned down. He subsequently left before the MoU signing event and press conference, as well as the opening of the CHAN tournament. He instead travelled to Antigua to lobby for support at the Caribbean Football Union’s meetings. At those meetings UEFA general secretary Infantino is believed to have won favour with Caribbean federations with promises of more FIFA cash and significant UEFA support – though perhaps he can also now similarly expect a complaint from Prince Ali.
Shaikh Salman responded swiftly to Prince Ali’s complaint, saying he was astonished. “As AFC President, one of my duties is to seek development know-how sharing opportunities for the AFC around the world and to establish solid ties with like-minded football professionals. That’s why the AFC has similar MoUs with the world governing body FIFA, as well two other Confederations, namely UEFA and CONCACAF. I am astonished about my friend’s comments, which are wholly dismissed and entirely inaccurate,” he said in a statement.
The AFC and CAF say they began talks about a Cooperation Agreement last May when the two General Secretaries of the confederations met in Zurich. The MoU “provides for the sharing of information, experience, initiating high level competitions, as well as conducting joint technical development programmes. It will cover areas such as coaching, refereeing, youth football, women’s football, integrity, administration, marketing, media and innovative technologies,” said a statement from Shaikh Salman’s campaign team.
Hayatou said: “Partnerships have linked us in the past through many areas including competitions between our teams and exchange of officials. There are many similarities between the continents of Asia and Africa and that is why we wish to work closely together in the next four years. Today, we are here to re-launch a cooperation that will be beneficial to the two Confederations after several months of work. This is an opportunity that will further contribute to African football development.”
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