In one of the dramatic turnarounds in Asian football, Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa is elected as the president of Asian Football confederation beating his two rivals UAE’s Yousef Al Serkal and Thailand`s Worawi Makudi in the first round of voting. He required two third of the votes to be elected in the prestigious FIFA executive committee and he got as many as 33 votes out of 46 leaving Youssef Al-Serkal of the United Arab Emirates in the third place with six votes – just one behind to Worawi Makudi of Thailand. The margin of win is too much which is coz of the downfall in the popularity of current president Mohamed Bin Hammam who is facing a life ban after naming in the bribe scandal off late. Other two contestants were considered closed to Hammam and that is why they faced the heat of rejection from everywhere. Actually, Sheikh Salman also stood against Hammam in the same presidential election back in 2009 and then lost by a narrowed margin, but this time he was at the right place to encash recent bribery scandals and president’s role in them.
Currently, Sheikh Salman is the president of Bahrain Football Association Human rights groups and is known for his active support to players and officials during Bahrain`s violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests back in 2011. On his election, FIFA President Blatter congratulated him without wasting any time but also warned him about the major renovation work Asian football requires at the moment. He issued a statement and said, “Your confederation has been in a difficult situation during the past two years, together you have overcome all these difficulties and you are now are in the situation where you are going to have a restart.
“I identify this restart as a intermediary restart and then the right start will be in 2015 and you have two more years to put you house in such an order that the AFC can play its part, the part that Asian football and Asia deserves.”
He acknowledges the impact of Asian football over the soccer world and said, “With two thirds of the world population, Asia clearly plays a huge role in the international football community. But it certainly has not reached its full potential. AFC shall unite its energies to continue to strengthen the growth of the game in Asia.”
Similarly, Salman also issued his statement and congratulated all the members who voted for him, he said, “Today I am proud and happy to see the Asian football family gathered together.”
“Proud and happy to see our family united. In the past, some of you asked me ‘Why are you campaigning again?’ The answer is, that I have not finished my mission. My mission is to lead the AFC to a future of growth and prosperity, a future of good governance.
“Now it is my personal duty to reunite our family. We need concrete reforms, steps that can be implemented and measured, an AFC where the decision-makers are accountable, for their actions, the decisions they take and the success of the result, which you can measure.
“We have to ensure that the AFC fund, which is your fund, is being managed to good principle…The AFC needs a strong president and a strong leader with necessary skill to take concrete actions. I would like to be your voice, your ambassador on FIFA’s executive committee, restore the AFC’s reputation, clean up the past and prepare for the future, restore transparency.”