Korean football leaders praise AFC Presidential Candidate's Manifesto for Football Reform as Al Romaithi Make Football Fair campaign builds momentum

Al Romaithi AFC Presidential Campaign On the Move

MEDIA RELEASE

Attention: Chiefs of staff, assignment, forward planning, photo desk & sports editors plus football correspondents, 10 March 2019

Korean FA praises AFC presidential candidate Al Romaithi’s sponsor-backed $320m Fair Fund designed to bridge huge divide in Asian Football

− KFA president Chung Mong-Gyu wowed by Al Romaithi plans to unlock Asia’s potential

− Confirmation that the entirety of $320 million Fair Fund to come from sponsorship deals

− Historic pledge will help eradicate gaping inequality in Asian football

In the second meeting of a dynamic campaign tour, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) presidential candidate Mohammed Khalfan Al Romaithi confirmed to the Korea Football Association (KFA) that every dollar of his landmark$320 million pledge to power the development of football across the continent will come from the private sector.

"I want to clarify this," Al Romaithi told Chung Mong-Gyu, president of the KFA.

"This money is coming from sponsorship deals with companies. They (the companies in question) are waiting for me to win, so we can sign the deal."

It was a message that gained instant acclaim from Chung.

"I am very impressed, I respect what you have done for football and admire your manifesto," said Chung, who is also the current East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) president and a FIFA Council member.

Al Romaithi is the first presidential candidate in the history of the AFC to produce an expansive, fully-funded manifesto clearly detailing a programme for reform.

The Make Football Fair document (available for all to read in full) not only highlights point-by-point how the chairman of UAE’s General Authority for Sports will increase investment, participation and independence to finally unlock Asia’s full potential, but it also reveals how he will fund each policy pledge.

In another first for Asian football, Al Romaithi has promised not to take a single dollar out of the AFC.

"I am there to work, not to get paid," said the man who oversaw the successful staging of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. "The money that would come to me should go to other purposes, helping disadvantaged countries, helping football players who are struggling financially, helping our referees, and helping the coaches who serve Asia."

To further underline his commitment to the game he has loved since he was a boy, Al Romaithi repeated his promise that he will step down from the presidency within 12 months if he has not fulfilled every campaign pledge.

"This manifesto will be put into action when I win and of course if I don’t do it, I am a man of my word, I will stand down," he said, "It is an honour for me to deliver what I promise.

"If we want to clean up football and make it beautiful again, if we want to be fair for our continent, everybody has to talk and act with integrity."

Next stop: Tokyo

With momentum gathering behind him, candidate Al Romaithi visits Tokyo 10-12 March to discuss his plans to prioritise the development of women’s and youth football across the world’s biggest continent.

Al Romaithi will be available in Tokyo for broadcast and print interviews on the morning of 12 March – please contact us to book one of the limited available slots:

Stefan Popovic: + 971 508120577 // Stefan.Popovic@csm.com

Cynthia Darwish: + 971 50 216 3352 // cynthia.darwish@csm.com

Follow live coverage of the Making Football Fair campaign:

Twitter: @AlRomaithi2019

Instagram: @AlRomaithi2019

Facebook: AlRomaithi2019

Download Campaign assets

Manifesto Video

Policy Video

Notes to editors:

Key Making Football Fair manifesto policies

1. Create a $320 million ‘Fair Fund’ for the development of football across Asia

2. Introduce a financial governance index to ensure all applications are means tested

3. Invest a minimum of $2million every year in every AFC Member Association – 25% of which must be ring-fenced to fund the development of women’s football

4. Ensure that every Member Association national team plays a minimum of five matches per year

5. Establish annual competitions for all national age group teams U14-U23

Al Romaithi on:

Football’s leaders failing to deliver the development and growth Asia deserves:

"Our beautiful game has been tainted and tarnished. Its riches have been emptied into the pockets of a few. Its lifeblood has been drained, its soul has been sold."

Al Romaithi on the AFC’s damaging legacy:

"The graffiti on the wall spells out a simple truth – football in Asia is failing."

On the need for change at the top of the AFC:

"Now is the time to address the wrong doings, the inequalities and the failures of the past. Now is the time for a new era. Now is the time to make football fair for the many and not just the few."

On a key manifesto policy designed to ensure development across Asian football:

"I pledge to make football fair by creating a new Fair Fund which will invest $320 million in the development of football across Asia. This will be governed by the Fair Index which will ensure all funding applications are based on means testing.

On his vision for the future of Asian football:

"I want every boy and girl from every nation, every faith and every age to have the chance to play football and one day dream of lifting the World Cup."

Who is Mohammed Khalfan Al Romaithi?

Mohammed Khalfan Al Romaithi has a lifelong passion for football. As a youngster he represented Al Ain FC, the UAE’s most successful club side before returning in 2000 to become the club’s general secretary. Under his stewardship – Al Romaithi took up the post of chairman of the board in 2001 – Al Ain won the National League Championship three times, a President’s Cup and an AFC Champions League title. Following a stint at the UAE National Olympic Committee, Al Romaithi returned to football and, as president of the FA, oversaw a golden period for the UAE. As well as going on to chair the local organising committees for the both the 2009 and 2010 FIFA Club World Cups, Al Romaithi was appointed president of the AFC Ad-hoc Committee for Member Associations. In 2015 he was elected a member of the AFC Executive Committee, a role he still carries out today alongside his duties as chairman of the General Authority for Sports in the UAE. Earlier this year, as vice president of the local organising committee, Al Romaithi helped oversee the highly successful 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

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