Tags
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifah was elected last year. (AFP)
AFP/Kuala Lumpur
Prince Ali bin al-Hussein has savaged plans to hand his current role as FIFA vice-president to Asia’s football boss in a row which threatens to plunge regional soccer into a fresh round of infighting.
In an open letter, the Jordanian royal “strongly opposed” the proposal backed by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifah, which will be put to the vote in June.
“I stand firm by my conviction that all sport... should be free from politics and completely devoid of politicos and self-interest individuals and groups that exploit the sport and all its stakeholders for their own personal gains,” Prince Ali wrote.
Four of football’s six global confederations combine the role of regional president and FIFA vice-president, with the AFC and South America’s CONMEBOL the two exceptions.
Bahrain’s Shaikh Salman was elected last year in a move warmly welcomed by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Shaikh Salman will now seek a change in AFC statutes to merge the Asian presidency with the FIFA vice presidency. He is expected to seek re-election as AFC boss next year.
Jordan’s Prince Ali, 38, was elected as one of the eight FIFA vice-presidents to a four-year term in January 2011.
He said the proposal to combine the two roles, which would take effect next year, was convincingly beaten at the AFC Congress where Shaikh Salman was elected last May.
“I am truly surprised that this proposal has resurfaced in the past few months, led vigorously by the current AFC president,” the prince said in his letter released on Wednesday.
“It is unfortunate that the direction taken by the AFC president and other AFC officials is one driven purely by politics instead of focusing our energies and valuable time to improving the game in Asia,” he added.
No immediate comment was available from Shaikh Salman but the AFC said the proposal will be put to the vote at an extraordinary Congress in Sao Paulo on June 9, ahead of the World Cup.
At last year’s presidential election, Shaikh Salman shrugged off allegations of human rights violations targeting Bahraini pro-democracy supporters to record a landslide win.
There are no comments.
SPORT Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when you are saying farewell to those that have left a positive impression. That was the case earlier this month when Canada hosted Mexico in a friendly at BC Place stadium in Vancouver.
TECHNOLOGY Some 60mn primary-school-age children have no access to formal education
CULTURE Lekhwiya’s El Arabi scores the equaliser after Tresor is sent off; Tabata, al-Harazi score for QSL champions
ARABIA The Yemeni Minister of Tourism, Dr Mohamed Abdul Majid Qubati, yesterday expressed hope that the 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen declared by the Command of Coalition Forces on Saturday will be maintained in order to lift the siege imposed on Taz City and ease the entry of humanitarian aid to the besieged
ARABIA Some 200 teachers from schools across the country attended Qatar Museum’s (QM) first ever Teachers Council at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) yesterday.
ARABIA The Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC) of Qatar and the Indonesian Supreme Court (SCI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on judicial co-operation, it was announced yesterday.
ECONOMY Sri Lanka is keen on importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar as part of government policy to shift to clean energy, Minister of City Planning and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem has said.
