Qatar and UAE vie for president of AFC president

United Arab Emirates nationals Mohammed Khalfan Al Rumaithi and Qatar's Saud Al Mohannadi have been appointed to head AFC to compete with current Bahraini President Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa.

With the closing of the presidential candidacy of the Continental Union on Thursday, Salman, Rmeithi and Muhammedi were elected to the presidency.

Al Rumaithi is head of the General Authority of Sport of the United Arab Emirates and is also the commander of the Abu Dhabi Police.

It is expected that CAF's chairmanship will also be of a political nature after appointing Qatar's Saud Al-Mohannadi, vice-president of CAF and FA of Qatar.

In April 2017, FIFA lifted a one-year ban on Al-Mohannadi, imposed by the independent ethics commission for failing to cooperate with a thorough investigation into the former president of the AFC, Mohamed Bin Hammam.

Salman assumed the presidency of the Continental Union in early 2013, succeeding Ben Hammam, who was suspended from life for any football activity under corruption indictment to support his candidacy for the presidency of the International Federation. Sheikh Salman finished two years in office of the former president and was re-elected in 2015 for a four-year term.

In September, Sheikh Salman announced his candidacy for a new term and then confirmed that he had the support of the majority of the member states of the Continental Union.

Under the rules of the Continental Union, candidates must be subject to integrity checks on the part of the Union Electoral Commission to confirm their eligibility for candidacy, in accordance with the rules. 39, Article 9 of the electoral system, before being formally declared.

The elections are expected to take place on April 6, 2019, at the general meeting of the assembly to be held in Kuala Lumpur. The election includes the election of the president, five vice presidents and six members of the FIFA Council.

Source: AFP