Sport | Football
Sponsored by
AFC prevents Kuwait from voting in election
The Kuwait Football Association (KFA) said yesterday it has been barred from voting in the election to decide Asia's representative on the Fifa executive committee.
- AP
- Published: 10:13 May 7, 2009
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: The Kuwait Football Association (KFA) said yesterday it has been barred from voting in the election to decide Asia's representative on the Fifa executive committee.
"Kuwait FA has been barred from voting" by the Asian Football Confederation [AFC] executive committee, which met in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, said the KFA said in a statement.
Two AFC officials, speaking on condition of anonymity as there was no formal statement, confirmed that Mongolia, East Timor, Afghanistan and Laos - whose eligibility to vote had been in question - would be allowed to take part in the election.
AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam, who is standing for election today, caused an uproar when he initially barred the five countries from the vote, and subsequently ignored a Fifa directive that they are eligible.
Hammam's challenger, Bahraini Prince Shaikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, said Bin Hammam is trying to block their participation in the election because he fears they would vote against him. Bin Hammam, a Qatari who is often tipped as a successor to Fifa president Sepp Blatter, denies the accusations, saying the ban was on procedural grounds.
Bin Hammam says Kuwait is ineligible to vote as its football association was being run by an interim body, while the other four countries had been barred because of their non-participation in regional competitions over the past two years.
However further meetings yesterday ruled that Mongolia, East Timor, Afghanistan and Laos would participate in today's election, the AFC officials said.
At stake today is more than just a position on Fifa's board.
Bin Hammam has said that if he loses the vote - which coincides with his 60th birthday - he will also stand down as president of the AFC.
The controversy has split the AFC. Last week, 24 members wrote to Fifa, urging it to monitor the election saying they feared Bin Hammam would manipulate it.
"Asia was always united and there was strong cooperation [among members]. But today our federation is divided and it is not the real spirit of Asia," Shaikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, president of the Kuwait Football Association, told reporters on Wednesday.
Shaikh Ahmad had been a key figure in the election campaign.
Chief criticised
One of world soccer's kingpins launched a humiliating attack on Asia's soccer chief, Mohammad Bin Hammam, urging him to seek psychiatric help as the struggle for power in Asian soccer intensified.
"I am afraid that Bin Hammam may be a sick person who needs to be at a hospital rather than at [world soccer's governing body] Fifa," South Korean tycoon Chung Mong-joon told reporters yesterday. "It looks like Bin Hammam is suffering from mental problems."
Chung, a Fifa vice-president and South Korean lawmaker, claimed Bin Hammam was "acting like a head of a crime organisation" and that Asian soccer was now suffering from a serious lack of transparency, democracy and rule of law.
- Reuters
Share this article
Popular in Sport
-
Pictures
Famous female golfers
A look at some famous female golfers, teeing off with Annika Sorenstam
Sport Editor's choice
-
Georgiou, Al Thafiri promise close race
Pirelli Star Driver contest on gravel to be held on Thursday and Friday
-
All-woman team a milestone for Dubai rally
Bin Sulayem all praise for Batikhi and Al Tajir as they gear up for the final leg of FIA Middle East event
-
Del Potro admits there's room for improvement
Virtually assured of ending year as World No 4
