FIFA Council elections: Asian congress called off after 20 minutes

AFC delegates protest last minute disqualification of Qatari candidate

PANAJI: An Asian football congress was scrapped after just 20 minutes yesterday as members rejected its agenda in protest at FIFA barring a Qatari official from elections to its powerful new council.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) delegates flew to a luxury hotel in Goa, India to elect three new members to the FIFA Council, only for the extraordinary congress to be declared closed after just 20 minutes.

The 42-1 vote against adopting the congress’s agenda will be seen as a rebuke to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who was among those present at the short-lived gathering.



“This has been an eventful morning — and an eventful few weeks,” said AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim alKhalifa, who stood against Infantino in FIFA polls in February. “But the congress has spoken with one voice and that has been clear for us all to see. Infantino, I am not sure if you have been at a shorter congress but I think you can see the strength of opinion in the room.”

Various delegates told AFP that the agenda was rejected because a senior official from Qatar, hosts of the 2022 World Cup, had been barred from standing for the FIFA Council.

Scandal-plagued FIFA’s ethics committee last month recommended a two-and-a-half-year ban for Saoud alMohannadi, Vice-President of the Qatar Football Association, for refusing to cooperate with a corruption investigation.



Mohannadi denies any wrongdoing and had initially been cleared to stand, before the AFC announced late on Sunday that he’d been ruled out of the process by FIFA.

FIFA has not revealed the subject of the corruption inquiry, but it is not connected with allegations related to Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup.

“The AFC and Asian football has shown solidarity and unity. The message has been clear to everyone both inside and outside Asia,” said Sheikh Salman. “Football in Asia is united and that is down to you and I thank you for sending out such a strong message that we stand united.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2016.

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