Royal bid for AFC presidency unlikely to succeed

BAHRAIN/QATAR

Royal bid for AFC presidency

unlikely to succeed

A member of Bahrain’s royal family, head of the Bahrain

Football Association (BFA) Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa,

is campaigning to become the next president of the

Asian Football Confederation (AFC), courting yet more

controversy for the region’s soccer establishment. The position

has been vacant since Qatar’s Mohammed Bin Hammam was

suspended in May 2011, and investigations into his wrongdoings

are ongoing, as are questions over Qatar’s winning bid for the

2022 World Cup (GSN 930/7, 929/9).

Sheikh Salman, a grandson of Bahrain’s late ruler Sheikh

Salman II Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa who ruled from 1942 to

1962, has been accused of heading a committee that looked at

photographs of anti-government protests to identify Shiite

athletes taking part. Some 150 athletes were targeted, and

among those detained were two of the island’s most prominent

football players, Aala and Mohammed Hubail. Mohammed

was sentenced to two years in prison, but was later released.

The BFA denied any wrongdoing, and Manama probably hopes

that a win for Sheikh Salman could help redress its tainted

reputation. But observers suggest the AFC will look away from

the Gulf, fearing further embarrassment. “There are a lot of

people who feel that he would not be the person they would

want to represent the AFC, certainly not an AFC that comes

out of a crisis,” said James M Dorsey, author of the blog The

Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer and a close observer of the

AFC. He said China’s Zhang Jilong, currently interim AFC

president, had a much better chance of winning.

The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer