Prince Ali Lobbies for Asian Support in FIFA Presidential Campaign

(ATR) Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein has launched his campaign for the FIFA presidency at the Asian Football Confederation's extraordinary congress in Melbourne.

The 39-year-old FIFA vice president, and head of the Jordanian FA, used his time at the congress on Friday to lobby for support amid uncertainties over how many votes he could secure from the 47-member AFC body. In total, there are 209 FIFA member associations.

Last June, AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa won backing from 44 of the 45 voting federations for the FIFA vice-presidency seat for Asia to be merged with the AFC president’s seat. It means that Prince Ali loses his place at world football's top table in the spring unless he can secure another FIFA ExCo seat.

That vote to change the AFC’s statutes highlighted the recurring divisions that exist in Asian football; in 2013 a similar proposal was rejected by 98% of the AFC’s member federations.

If Prince Ali is to come anywhere near close to beating incumbent Sepp Blatter he will need significant Asian backing, which means converting some of Sheikh Salman's loyal supporters to his cause and winning over the floating voters. Outside Asia, he must take sizeable chunks of Blatter's long-term support in Africa, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF.

When it emerges, the Jordanian's manifesto pledges will be key to unlocking support in his quest to unseat the 78-year-old.

On Friday, the Swiss welcomed the challenge from Prince Ali for the FIFA presidency in the May 29 election, saying it was good for football. "We are in a democracy and this can only be beneficial for debate," he was quoted by Swiss daily Le Matin.

"Don't we say that winning without danger is triumph without glory?"

Revamp of AFC Statutes

The AFC extraordinary congress comes on the opening day of the 16-nation Asian Cup in Australia.

Sheikh Salman’s plan to create a new central AFC region helped secure some votes in his victory over Prince Ali in June 2014. During Friday's meeting, the AFC is discussing and voting on amendments to its statutes to create five rather than four geographic zones in the confederation.

The "South & Central" zone will be split into two zones, with Afghanistan, IR Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan making up the central zone.

The composition of the AFC executive committee is also being revamped.

One of the big changes is that FIFA ExCo member Moya Dodd will likely lose her position, as a seat for a female vice president is being scrapped.

In Facebook post on Thursday, Dodd diplomatically addressed concerns about women being shunted aside in the confederation's shake-up.

Each geographic zone will continue to have one vice president, and at least one female member on the AFC ExCo, so the number of women's positions on the ruling body will increase from four to five. The number of AFC vice presidents will remain at five, but these will all be zonally elected and there will no longer be a designated female vice president, she confirmed. The AFC ExCo will increase from 24 to 25 seats.

"While there will no longer be a designated female vice president in AFC, this package of amendments means that there will be an additional woman at the AFC ExCo table, and the proportion of women will increase from 4 out of 24, to 5 out of 25," she said.

"AFC will be the first international football governing body to mandate fully 20% of its ExCo membership as female. This is a new benchmark in gender equity for football governance."

She added: "Women can, of course, stand for any of the zonal vice president positions and I would hope that in time we will see women elected to such roles. I have been privileged to be the first female vice president of AFC, but I hope I am not the last.

"Alongside FIFA's support for at least one woman to be on the ExCo in every country, this move by AFC can help create more and more meaningful opportunities for women to contribute at the top table of our governing bodies."

Reported byMark Bisson

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